


The Beast and the Tamer

by Erieri4ever



Series: The Beast and the Tamer [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: 17 in beginning, Armins a genius, Artist Eren Yeager, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, LITERALLY, M/M, Manipulative Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Marco is Freckled Jesus, Older Eren Yeager, Ren makes people question their sexuality, Sedatephobia!Hanji, Seductive Eren, Slow Build, Younger Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), because Levi, clueless Levi, eren ends up with Heterochromia iridium, from after season 2, hanjis insane, illeism!ren, mid-20, rating will probably go up later, there are some spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2018-11-04 08:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 63,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10987563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erieri4ever/pseuds/Erieri4ever
Summary: When Eren was 10 yrs old, his first lapse occurred. Lending the small boy the strength of a grown man and features not wholly human, Eren transformed into a creature almost more terrifying than his future titan form. Its 7 yrs later, and now Eren must deal with the consequences of being discovered. Only, the consequences may not be so bad in the end...





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic, i hope it alright! i would really appreciate comments on how to improve!

Eren :10 yrs. old-  
“ Eren? Eren!” Eren woke up to his voice being called by his adopted sister, Mikasa. Armin stood at the end of the couch, eyes wide.  
“Huh? Whats going on, why’d you wake me up?” Eren mumbled, rubbing his eyes.  
“Are you Eren?” Mikasa asked, looking closely at her beloved Erens face.  
“Yeah? What do you mean?” Mikasa looked pained for a minute before closing her eyes and slowly opening them again. Then she explained what she had seen.

“We have to tell them.” Mikasa said. Her eyes were determined and her back straight. Eren, on the other hand, was panicking.  
No! We can’t do that! It’d only make things worse!” Eren cried, pacing. Mikasa looked thoughtful for a minute. They hadn’t been arguing very long, and she always gave into most of his requests, mostly because she hated seeing him depressed.   
“Fine.” She told him. He breathed out a sigh of relief. “BUT,” she continued, “I’m still going to give a warning.” She finished, crossing her arms and staring into Erens bright gaze. Eren knew he wasn’t going to get any farther with that stance, so-with a sigh of reluctance-he gave a resigned “OK”.  
This was Eren Jaeger, and he held an interesting secret. This passionate young man was more than just a titan shifter. He had a type of alternate personality living inside his head. Certain phrases or situations would bring him out, and only a couple people with certain phrases could put him back. Or until he fell asleep. Which, as Armin and Mikasa found out the hard way, could take a while.  
Eren remembered Mikasa telling him of his first lapse. At least that everyone else knew about. Eren himself could never remember what he did when his alternate personality took over, good _or_ bad-

  
   

Mikasa’s danger radar spiked up. Startled, She looked up from the book she had been reading. She only had a few pages left in this chapter. Armin and Eren had left to go play and she had told them she would meet them in a bit. They’d left only a few minutes ago and Armins Grandfather had left to get groceries. Mikasa took a quick ‘peek’ at her Eren-dar and stood up quickly. It was… scrambled.  
There was really no other way to describe it. It wasn't as steady as it was supposed to be and it seemed like Eren wasn’t… Eren. He didn’t feel like his normal self. He normally had an aura-like presence that stretched like a string connecting them, this string was snapped at the end. She could tell where he was, but it seemed to move in all sorts of directions, never settling in one spot, constantly vibrating.  Knowing Eren, Mikasa put down her book and headed out the door. She knew from experience that he had a knack for finding trouble and that trouble always managed to get him seriously hurt. But nothing like this had ever happened before. It could only mean that something truly threatening had occurred. She hurried after her Eren-dar for a little while, noticing that the danger and Eren seemed to be coming from the same direction. Worry spiking from slight concern to panic, Mikasa started running toward where she knew her brother would be. It didn't take long for her to discover the new mess that he had gotten himself into.

Armin was huddled by a box, staring wide-eyed at the horror in front of him. Two men were on the ground; back up against the alley wall, bleeding from various cuts, bites, and stabs across their legs and chests, blood dripped from their mouths and one of the men had blood seeping from his broken nose. They looked like a wild animal had attacked them. Both were unconscious. In front of her stood Eren. There was a small rip in his shirt, like he'd tripped and fallen. A rumbling noise started. Mikasa shivered, cold tingles running down her spine in a rare moment of fear.  
“Eren?” her voice trembled. He turned toward her. She recoiled. This wasn’t Eren. It wasn’t even _human_. His face was twisted in a snarl and the noise seemed to be coming from its mouth. Mikasa looked over this new version of her brother.The canines had elongated into fangs, and it's eyes were a glowing gold. Ears were pointed, hands clawed, arms appearing longer, and hair shaggier. The threatening snarl relaxed then, and the growling softened into a purr.  
“ **Hello, friend**.” The creature rasped, his voice rough, as though it wasn’t natural to speak. “ **One sec**.” He continued. He turned back around. It was around then that Mikasa noticed the kneeling man in front of the boy-creature.  
“Please! Please, help me! I didn’t know! I didn’t know!” the man screamed, sobbing; tears and snot running down his face. Later, Armin would explain that the men had wanted to beat them and possibly rape him, calling him ‘pretty boy’. “That was about the time Eren had snapped” Armin had told her shakily, his trembling hands wrapped around a cup of tea and a blanket around his shoulders.  
The feral Erens face twisted back into a snarl once he turned toward the soiled man again. With a quick swipe, the man's face split under his claws. Screaming, the man fell onto his back, weeping ever harder, blood welling up from between his stubby fingers. Eren kicked him in the ribs for good measure; swift and graceful, then trotted over to the wide-eyed girl staring at her brother-turned-animal.  
“ **Friend-mate?”** it keened, looking hopefully at his adopted sister. His voice held the high pitched whine of a begging dog. Mikasa shivered and stepped closer to Armin, hoping to maybe protect her friend from this new creature that had appeared in the form of her Eren. The boy cocked his head to the side, then sniffed the air. He then took a step forward and Mikasa found herself face to face with this… monster. The feral creature in front of her stared at her with a frozen gold, before melting into a warm glow and rubbing the side of his head by Mikasa’s cheek.  
“ **Friend-mate.** ” he said, sounding satisfied. He then trotted over to the figure huddled by the wall and, pulling him up by the hand, did the same thing. Still holding his hand, the now less-feral Eren grabbed the girl's hands and led them to their house. Once he had opened the door, he dropped to all fours and dragged himself over to the couch. Yawning, he hopped onto it and circled a few times before lying down, body abstractly twisted into a dog-like sleeping position.  
A few seconds after closing his eyes the boy began to snore softly, little growls turning into soft breaths. Armin and Mikasa looked at each other, then back at Eren. A glance later, they both ran over to wake up their friend. When he did, no thanks to the shaking they gave him, he had no memory of what happened and was back to normal.

  
Now, Eren was 17 and currently waiting for his 2 best friends to join him at the Scouting Regiment. During his time at the base, he was pretty sure he'd changed a total of 2 times. Both times he'd escaped to an open place where he assumed he killed titans for awhile, on account of the steaming carcasses he woke up to.  
He now had a week and a half until he saw his family again, and he had a bad feeling that told him they should really come sooner. Turns out, he was right.

 

9 ½ days later  
Levi had simply sent two men to help Eren practice defending himself against surprise attacks and know had this to deal with. Although, he didn't really know what this was. Eren appeared to have gone crazy. A calm crazy, but still crazy. Managing to knock out the two soldiers within a second of them surprising him. But that wasn't the problem. No, the issue seemed to be that Eren had now become a human shaped animal. He wasn't in his titan form, yes, but this seemed almost more dangerous. Levis danger radar was going crazy, telling him to get the hell out of there. What didn't make sense, was that it was pointing straight at the teenager with his nose in the air, doing a Mike-like sniffing motion. What is he doing? Levi thought, looking at the lanky boy out the window. At that moment, the brat turned his head toward Levi. The captain felt his insides go cold. The kid was out on the field, far below the window Levi was at, looked right at him, a golden glow radiating from his eyes.  
Molten gold. Levi managed to think before he retreated from the window. That had not been a safe look that the Eren-that-wasn't-Eren had given him; predatory, claiming, serious. He needed a weapon. He had some time. Eren was far away, plus, he was 10 meters off the ground, he wouldn’t reach him any time soon. Levi looked around the room: mostly barren except a desk and a couple chairs. Nothing quick.

  
**_DANGER!!!! _** His mind screamed at him. Levi whipped his head to the window. There sat Eren, filling up the spaces of the window, grinning at the shocked corporal. _No fucking WAY!_ Levi noted the fangs and claws, the glowing eyes and pointed ears, then promptly cursed, still a little in shock. He hadn't looked at the window for barely a few seconds. It shouldn't have been possible. But here he was, grinning at the stunned captain, now gracefully stepping off the window sill to stand in front of it. Shit. The gaze leveled at Levi had no mercy and every bit of the predatory intent that showed on his body.

 **Hello, Levi**  the boy-man-creature purred. The sound reverberated down Levis spine and through his head, leaving behind a wonderful tingly feeling. Shaking his head, Levis glared at the animal in front of him.

“Hello brat” Levi replied, trying to act calm. He scanned the walls and glanced at the chairs, calculating whether he could reach them in time to fend off the golden-eyed man.

“ **Run away? No. Play…”** the teen called to the raven haired man. Levi tried to ignore the tingling in his ears and spine.

“What the fucks wrong, Jaeger! Snap out of it!” Levi ordered, finally starting to feel the slightest bit worried. Eren smiled. Elongated fangs shown in the sunlight. Levi swallowed. The other stalked closer. So the captain punched him. Or tried to, at least. Eren grabbed his fist and the foot that had been flying up to meet his side.The golden-eyed man raised an eyebrow.  
“ **I say no.** ” Eren tugged Levi to him, somehow managing to fend off the experienced officers attacks while trapping his small wrists inside one large hand. The recruit rose the captain's arms above his head and pressed his body against the wall that they now leaned against. Levi glared.

“Let go of me.” He said coldly. Erens smirk grew.

 **“Why?”** he answered, genuinely curious. He waited a few moments for an answer (of which Levi gave no reply), then smelt his hair. A small groan wound up his throat, blowing air through the black strands. Levi decided he would wait until the brat least suspected it, then he would surge up, trap this annoying kid, and beat him black and blue.  
Reopening his eyes, Eren slid his nose down the top of Levis head, down the side of his neck, and continued rubbing the tip of his nose nose up and down the white column. Levi, despite himself, gave a small gasp, and started breathing heavier, pleasure directing his attention to wherever the other man was touching. Eren tightened his grip on Levi's waist, then started to lick and suck the man's neck and collarbone.

“Uungh!” Levi moaned as Eren added teeth to the erotic dance of his mouth. Shocked at himself, he readied to set his plan into action. Then Eren moved his thigh forward, bringing it to touch Levis crouch. Pleasure short-circuited his brain for a moment. He subconsciously realized his plan would never work. Eren would always be able to predetermine his moves, being the animal he was at this moment.

“Er-Erwin!” Levi gasped out, trying to call out for his (close-enough) friend. For once, he couldn’t do something for himself. Unbeknownst to the two in the separate room, Erwin felt something shift in the cosmic universe and went to investigate. Levi shifted his head away from Eren, hoping to deter the determined creature in front of him.Distantly, the phrase _wolf-like_ came to mind. Unfortunately (or fortunately), all that did was give Eren better access to his neck. Now almost not wanting anyone to stop the taller boy in front of him, Levi paused. Then panic quickly filled him. Something was wrong. Something smelt _really_ good, and seemed to be affecting his judgement. A sudden surge of panic rose in him, but was quickly tapped down by the relaxing scent of calm permeating the air.

Then Eren lifted his head from where it had been tucked under Levis chin and looked toward the door. A few seconds later, the slightly hurried steps of a heavy man wound its way into the room from behind the closed door. Eren growled deep in his throat, a snarl coming to his face. Glancing around, Eren glimpsed a chair and navigated toward it, Levi stumbling dazedly from behind. He sat on the chair, plopping Levi onto his lap, moving his hands possessively around Levi's waist, and stared at the door while continuing his tirade on Levis neck. The door swung open. Someone stood in the door, filling out the frame and studying the room.  
_Erwin_. Levi thought cloudily, then Erens fangs scraped against his neck and no longer cared so much who was at the door. Eren lifted a hand to start petting Levis hair, the other holding Levi at the waist. Erwin took a step inside the room. When his gaze came to the spot in the middle of the room where the two men occupied the chair, he stopped.

  
“Eren” he started,”what are you doing?” Eren looked up. Erwin took his one step in, out. From the sun streaming in from the open window, Erens eyes glowed with animal intensity, his golden gaze cutting through Erwin to see the very core of him, stripping almost all defenses away immediately. A feral look illuminated from his eyes, the normally overpowering gem green now only specks in amber gold.  
Erwin carefully walked forward again, leaving the door open behind himself. Eren licked a stripe up Levis neck, earning him a moan and a shudder. Levi managed to send a pleading look in the commander's direction before his gaze turned close to dreamy and the furrow almost always on Levis brow smoothed out and relaxed. He closed his eyes and let his head fall back onto Erens shoulder, breathing heavily. Erens previous snarl turned to a victorious smirk and started nibbling Levis collarbone. That was all Erwin needed.

  
“ Eren...” Erwin started.

  
**“Away.** ” Eren interrupted, a growl obvious in his voice. Erwin gave a very small, almost unnoticeable, shudder.

  
“Eren” he continued,” let go of Levi right now.”

  
**“No.** ” he retorted simply. Erwin looked taken aback for a moment, then his resolve steeled him.

  
“Eren” he thought it best to keep using his name. “What are you doing?” Maybe this would be a better approach. Based on the fact he had easily overtaken Levi, he didn't have too much confidence in taking him down himself, and alone. Eren looked annoyed at the interruption.  
“ **Marking.** ” was all he answered. Erwin looked at him critically.

  
“And what does that mean?” he asked, slowly walking forward. Eren ignored the blond man, instead he took his clawed index finger and slit open the captain's shirt. He placed his hands on his muscled abdomen and started tracing his abs. Erwin noticed drool almost dripping from his mouth. Erens mouth was watering.

  
“Eren!” Erwin shouted. Erens head jerked up, like he had forgotten Erwin was even there. Eren sniffed around, sticking his nose in the air, and frowned. Still sniffing the air, he half closed his eyes and let his nose guide him to the fragile edges of Levis ear, which he started to nibble. Levis body was now in an almost continuous shiver. Completely sure Eren was sufficiently distracted and not going anywhere, Erwin ran out of the room, closing the door behind himself.

  
“Hanji!” the commander yelled. He knew it was out of character, but this might be an emergency. A few of the Levi squad shot up at the sound of their higher-up yelling, but quickly settled back down once they saw him wave at them hurriedly while passing the room, reassuring them. Mostly. They glanced at each other. What was wrong? Erwin finally reached the door with a ‘DO Not Disturb!!!!’ sign, ensuring the crazy scientist was inside the room. Knocking hurriedly, he entered the room. A sheet was just settling onto a lumpy table when he glanced inside. Hanjis back was still to him, hurriedly patting down the sheet to make a it fall quicker.

  
“Ah! Erwin! What's the problem?” she spun around and laughed her version of a greeting, this one a slightly more hysterical noise than usual. He looked at her, lips pressed firmly together into a tight line. “Ooh! Does It have something to do with our favorite titan shifter?”she guessed, squealing.

  
“Yes.” the word was grim. Hanjis smile lost some of it happiness to be replaced with a kind of calculating excitement and insanity.

  
“Has our Eren done something about little Levi?” she asked, eyes gleaming. Erwin paused a minute to stare at her before saying ”How did you manage to deduct that?” She grinned and grabbed a couple glass vials from under the sheet, and her cloak. “Onward!” she shouted, pointing toward the door, grinning excitedly, and  completely ignoring the commanders question. After staring at her for a moment longer, he turned toward the door and led the insane women toward the feral recruit and the short captain. He snagged a knife stuck to the wall on her way out. Hanji watches, but says nothing, only frowning a bit from her previous wide smile. They reach the door. Erwin sets his hand on the knob and quickly opens it. And frowns. There isn't anyone in the room. He opens the door fully. Hanji walks in from behind Erwin, does a half twirl, and walks a bit through the room. Then she stops. “Oh. Ooh.” is all she says when she peeks behind the big desk near the middle of the room. Erwin notices the earlier chair on the floor, by it. When he joins her behind the desk, he also freezes and stares. Eren is on the floor, head raised and nose sniffing the air and back to them. Levi lies below him, shirt mostly off and quiet gasps of air going in and out of his mouth. His eyes crack open.

“Ah. Hello. Doesn't it smell wonderful?” Levi asks, a blissful expression placed on his face a small smile gracing his lips. Erwin looks over to Hanji. Her eyes are starting to glaze over and nodding dazedly.

  
“Dammit!” Erwin curses, and starts lightly slapping Hanji in the face. She shakes her head a bit, clearing her nose, and covering it with her hand. At that moment, Eren stands. Both officers step back as he rises fully. Eren turns toward them fully, and Irwin hears a small gasp some from Hanji as she sees his eyes. Eren winces when he sniffs the air in Hanjis direction. He growls, arching his shoulders and lowering himself closer to the ground in a crouch.  
Hanji takes a step toward him and he drops to all fours. Almost lying on his fingertips, he raises one knee to his chest and lets the other stretch out behind him. He scoots back a few paces before reaching an arm around Levi and starting to drag him over to the window.

  
“Eren! Stop!” When that didn't seem to reach him, more to make him hurry faster, Hanji tried another ploy.

  
“Levi will die if you take him with you!” she cried desperately. The human creature with Erens name paused. He glanced at Hanji, then Levi.

  
**“Won't.** ” He rasped. His voice was low, almost a growl.

  
“How do you know?” she answered.  
**“Strong.”**

  
“Strong enough?”

  
“ **Yes.”** at these words, Eren starts moving again.

  
“Eren!” Hanji yells. He freezes, almost struggling to not want to glance at the squad leader behind him. Slowly, haltingly, Eren glanced s himself. Hanji was holding one of her vials from one of her numerous pockets, the top unstopped. Eren watched her a couple seconds before sniffing the air. Then his eyes widened at he clutched his nose, dropping Levi and rising a little off the floor. Howling, he jumped to the window and stuck his nose out, panting. He hopped onto the sill and got ready to jump, before he realized he was about to leave something behind. He whined, jumped back down, and turned to pick up Levi.  
Hanji took a step closer to shove the bottle into Erens face, causing him to jump back into a corner, howling ever louder. Taking another step to the out-of-it Captain, Hanji tried to get a closer look at Levi. Eren growled and jumped forward, wincing as the bottle got closer to him, but still crouching over his treasure. Faster than even Eren could react, Hanji dumped the liquid from the bottle onto levi, then shoved a new bottle of unknown contents into Erens mouth, unstopping the top as she went. Quickly halting everything, Eren grabbed the bottle from his mouth, his tongue stoppering the liquid from escaping. The bottle was still mostly full when Eren extracted it from his mouth. He studied it for a bit, then sniffed it. His eyes watered and he blinked. Hanji also blinked. Erwin was still trying to figure out how fast Eren would have had to been to get the bottle out of his mouth without swallowing any. Eren swallowed, blinked again, and took a step forward. Then he tottered and fell forward. Oh. Well scratch the not drinking any part. Hanji caught the bottle.

  
“ **Le** vi.” he mumbled, his rasping voice softening into a more human noise. Levi giggled and squirmed a little from under Erens' collapsed body.

  
“Hello! Oh. Hello Eyebrow-man!” He giggled at Erwin. The commander stared at Humanity's Strongest while Hanji put away her bottle.

  
“Hanji, whats whats wrong with Levi? Is he poisoned?” Erwin asked, still staring at a blissed-out Levi. Hanji gave a small smile, amused at the blonds stupidity.

  
“No, just high on pheromones.” she told him. “He's still our short, angry, pissed-off Captain Levi, just give him a few hours.”

 

“Oi! Shitty glasses! I'm not short!” Levi mumbled, a dazed glare looking her way. The frown didn't last very long.

  
“You said I'm high! How high? _At least_ as high as Eyebrows.” He nodded in agreement to himself while he shakily stood up, brushing off his backside and thighs. When dust actually came off, he glared. It stayed this time.

  
“Need water. And soap. And new clothes…” Levi grumbled, adding a few more items to his list of cleaning supplies and the order in which he had to do them. He held his hands in front of him; well away from his body, (even though that was thoroughly dirty as well), and comically marched out of the room, presumably to go clean himself up. Hanji looked up at Erwin; who had turned to watch Levi leave the room. She snorted and spoke.

  
“Erwin, could you please pick up Eren? I want to study these two, and I can't do that when they're in two different locations. Plus, he's heavy.” The now-a-pack mule gave a long, suffering sigh before picking up the unconscious boy in his arms; bridal-style.

  
“Alright! Let's go!” she shouted, pointing her finger toward the door before starting to walk.


	2. The Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi wakes up. Eren wakes up. And so does his awareness of the creature living in his head

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are appreciated!

He wakes up in the middle of a fluffy bed. Surprisingly, he doesn't feel tired at all. He felt _good_. Relaxed, well rested, clean. He stretched languidly before settling down to peer around the room. Gigantic hazel eyes in front of his face.

“Ahhh!” Shitty glasses! What the hell are you doing here?!” Levi didn't scare easily, but Hanji was a little more than slightly insane, and the blip that came up on his danger radar that warned him she was there was now too constant for him to really look up any more. And normally he still would have checked it, but in his previous and rare good mood, he had not thought to take a look. A good mood that had all but dissipated now. His once before relaxed face was now its usual and glaring counterpart. The note taking scientist ignored him and wrote down something on her clipboard. Looking up, she gave a manic grin.

“Levi! I want you to tell me exactly how you're feeling!”

“Annoyed.” Hanji gave him a disappointed look before jotting something else down. _Subject 2 is back to usual behavior._ She looked back up. Levi didn't seem embarrassed or angry. Well, more-than-usual angry. She frowned. “Did you forget?” she asked “Forget what?” Levi replied, more annoyed now with four-eyes’ cryptic questions. She pursed her lips, staring at Levi. “You know...Eren...big eyes... nice smells…” at this point, Hanji looked away and continued ”you giggling.” she looked back. Then started scribbling as fast as she could. Levi was staring at nothing, his jaw loose, and he appeared to have a very light blush rising into his normally pale face.

“Oh.” was all he said, digesting the information that assaulted his mind with the sudden reminder about what had happened earlier in the day. While he was distracted, Hanji grabbed another bottle from a pocket on the inside of her cloak and prepare to pour it on the pillow behind Levis head. Suddenly, Levi reached behind himself and seized Hanjis wrist. Hanji glanced at his face, and froze. His face was only partly out of his shock, his eyes still partially glazed. But he had somehow managed to stop her from pouring the bottle onto his pillow. Blinking a couple times, Levi glanced behind him... and glared.

“What is this?” he demanded as he took the bottle from her and brought it to his face. Hanji hid her nose and smile from Levi as he demanded answers. She watched as her friend paused and sniffed the air, inhaling the smell from the bottle. He closed his eyes to breath it in deeper, a slightly dazed expression coming to his face. Then he jerked away, covering the top with the thumb from the same hand he was holding the bottle with, and turned his glare from Hanji to the bottle. “What is this!?” He demanded again, shoving the container into the brunettes face.

“Oh, it's nothing. Smells pleasant, doesn't it!” she laughed and grabbed the bottle. Or tried to, anyway. At the last second, Levi jerked away, causing Hanji to poke herself in the eye. “Ow! Levi!...What'd you do that for?”Hanji asked, glancing from where Levi had hidden the bottle at his chest to his face. A light blush dusted his cheek bones. He blinked. “I don't know” she heard him mumble before he thrust out his hand again, hitting Hanji in the head. “Ah, well! Take it away! And burn it! Or bury it… that'd work too…” he trailed off, knowing he was sounding defensive. “Well?!” he suddenly yelled.”Take it away!” Thrusting the bottle into the scientist's hands, he hopped off the bed. He strode over to his chest, grabbing a couple clothes from the top. Crossing the room to the bathroom door, he paused with his hand on the doorknob. He turned quickly to Hanji.

“Everything was clean when I went to bed, correct?” He asked, a dark aura starting to flow from him. Hanji nodded quickly, and sighed in relief when the shorter man nodded once and went into the bathroom.Too late, Hanji realized that Levi hadn't answered her questions. Pouting, she looked at the closed door before sighing, shrugging, and walking out of the room. She grinned. Time to watch subject 1.

 

Eren woke up in a white room. He also, for some reason, was covered with a multicolored quilt, in various shades brightly colored. He tried to look around him, but found his head was strapped to the table he was against. He silently wondered why he had a blanket if he was going to be strapped to a table.

“Anyone? Hello? Hello!” Panic set in. He started yelling. When his voice went out on him, he settled down, determined to wait. At that moment, he felt a… being touch his mind. He froze.

_Hello?_ Eren thought, trying to direct what he was thinking to it.

**Hello.** The being answered. Eren calmed down a little. The being felt… familiar. _Who are you?_ Eren thought. The question went unanswered. **Close your eyes**. The thoughts told him. Eren obeyed. In his mind's eye, he saw a familiar, black, shrouded figure. He’d never seen him before.

_What do you want?_ Eren asked, curious.

**To come out.** The figures voice was powerful, and not wholly human. 

_Come out of where?_ Eren questioned. He wanted to help.

**My prison.**

_Prison?_

**This mind**. Eren frowned. This wasn't making any sense.

_Can I help?_

**Yes.** Eren was excited now.

_How?_

**You see my physical form, and accept me as I am**.

_That's all? But I already do._ He was confused.

**Watch**. And he did. He watched as the figure seemed to shed the shadows surrounding him, revealing his form. It was...himself. Well, kind of. It was a feral version of himself. Glowing amber gold eyes, the green mere pricks of color in a burnt orange light. His mouth full of sharp teeth, fangs replacing the canines, peeking from behind closed lips. Slightly longer limbs, making him taller, leaner, and a slim type of muscled. His fingers ended in sharp claws, twitching as though they wanted to close over a throat. Jerking his eyes open, Eren gasped, his breathing labored. A crash. Even though he couldn't move, he felt his body tug against the straps, hearing a groan and felt his consciousness slip, everything turning into weird shapes with anything gold or close to popping out, other colors blurring out into less discernible figures. He wrestled back control, now realizing that the creature took over in these situations. That explained a few things.Everything was quiet now. Movement. Erens eyes glanced to his left. Brown hair, goggle-glasses.

“Hanji?” Eren croaked, his voice still sore from yelling earlier and now unused to talking after being quiet for so long. “Hello!” Big eyes in front of his face. “Ah!” Eren hollered, startled. His head squished into the headrest behind him. Hanji smiled excitedly at him. “Oh! Sorry! “ she didn't sound sorry at all. “I guess your back to ‘normal’ again.” she told him. Eren looked confused. Normal? What did she mean nor...oh. Oh no. Hanji saw the horror on his face in his widening eyes. “Oh! So you were aware then!” Hanji says, scribbling on a clipboard she had hidden in her arms. Eren didn't seem to hear her.

“Whatever I did, I'm so sorry! Did I kill anyone? PLEASE tell me I didn't kill anyone!” and he kept apologizing until Hanji finally interrupted. He looked miserable. The older woman looked at him with surprised confusion. “Sooo, you weren't aware?” she asked. He paused, considering. “Aware of what? I don't think I killed anyone, but if I did, I was not aware of it, yes.” he looked at her apologetically. She looked back at him. He hadn't even mentioned his strapped down state. “Eren… has this happened before?” Hanji asked the question slowly. A small blush made its way to Erens face. He glanced away, “Um, about” he paused again, silently mouthing numbers.

“13. 13 times, counting this time and a couple that might not have happened.” Hanji wrote down a couple figures on her paper. “When did they first start?” “Well, according to Mi...I mean a friend, 10 yrs old.” he answered, nervous. Hanji wrote some more on her board. “Do you remember what happens during your, er, lapses?” she inquired. Eren looked at her for a moment before answering.

“No. I dream while my body goes along with its own business. Could you loosen these straps?” The sudden introduction of his tied down state caught Hanji by surprise. She finished writing her sentence, then thought for a second. After a few moments, she nodded and undid the strap from his neck and forehead, all the straps from one arm (3), 2 from his other arm (leaving the one around his wrist), a belt from his stomach, and one out of three from each leg. “Thank you.” Eren breathed, relaxing from his (before unknown) tense position. He didn't like being tied down.

“Actually HE wouldn't like to be tied down.” he corrected himself.

“What?” Hanji said sharply, jerking her head up from where she had been fiddling with a belt. “What?” he asked, confused. Did he say something? Hanji frowned. Had he not realized he had been talking? Eren sat up, then groaned. He was stiff. “Did you think I said something?” Eren asked. “Hmm. Maybe. Something about how a ‘he’ wouldn't like to be tied down” she laughed at herself. Eren didn't join in. He frowned. ‘Hmm’ she heard him murmur.

“Eh. well, at least I didn't kill anyone. Then I'd be in big trouble!” he smiled happily, relieved. Hanji looked at Eren guiltily. The green eyed boy sitting on the table returned the look with alarm. “Actually…” Hanji started. “ I did kill someone!? Oh jeez, Levis’ going to kill me. And I had such a good streak too! Who was it? Was it one of the Levi squad? Oh man! Was it Petra? She would kill me after Levi did! Don't ask me how she would, cause I don't know, only that she would somehow manage it.” Eren continued rambling, but Hanji was caught on something.

“Streak?” she interrupted. He paused then let out a small “oops”. Hanji cocked her head to the side. “Oh. You know. Where you, um, do or don't do something in a certain amount of time or amount of times.” Eren explained nervously. Hanjis eyes gleamed. “And what was your streak for?” she asked, gaze locked on Erens still form. “Not killing anybody. After that time with training, I managed to avoid situations where my other side came out and I went blank. Although, if you want any real numbers, you'd have to go to either Mikasa or Armin. They'd have all the real numbers.” Eren told her, sounding exhausted. “Numbers?” Hanji asked, confused. _Other side?_ She thought. Eren flailed a hand at nothing.

“Yeah, numbers. Times I've passed out, how to calm me down, how many people I've killed, most situations where I seem to want to kill people. You know, stuff like that.” Hanji looked at him silently for a moment before… “So. How many people do you think you've killed.” she asked the question lightly. Calculatingly. Eren didn't seem to notice. “15. Not counting titans. Then my guess is around 25. Maybe more.”

“25 _titans_?!” she asked shrilly. Eren nodded, oblivious to her incredulous stare. “Yeah. I wake up in a heap of them, their bodies pretty much gone. I don't fully know how I get to the base again without getting lost or tracked down by more.” Eren gestured with his hands as he talked, flailing wildly, and shrugging at the end. “Anyway, since I’m here, I suppose you know now. So, could you tell me what I was doing? This is the first time I've gone crazy enough to get caught. And how did you stop me?” The scientist chuckled nervously. “I gave you a really strong sedative I wanted to try on titans. At least we know it works on your human form!” Erens eye twitched. “That's nice, but what was I _doing_.” Eren wondered. Hanji looked at him, eyes not looking at him directly.

“Um, you should ask the captain himself. Anyway! I'll go talk to Erwin. See what we can do to get you free. Also, the recruits will be arriving in a couple hours.” The last thing Hanji saw before walking out the door, was Erens grinning face. On her way down the hall, she saw Levi striding down the hall from the opposite direction. She walked in front of him. He looked up, annoyed in doing so. “Where you goin’!” she asked.

“None your business, shitty glasses!” he snapped, scowling. “So much happier with the pheromones.” Hanji sighed, then ducked as Levi's fist came flying at her face. “Anyway! You goin’ to see Eren?” she asked. He stared at her silently. “You should. He has no memory of any of his incidents.”

“Plural?” Levi asked, slightly confused. “Oh. yeah. He said it's happened quite a few times.” she explained. He says he's killed around 45 titans Levi! That's a shit load of titan ass! Oh crap. I forgot to ask what happened when he lapsed during the training session.” she mused. “Lapsed?” he asked, getting more annoyed at not knowing all her titan jargon. “Oh! That's what I've decided to call him when he goes all feral!” she beamed. Levi shook his head. “Anyway, you really should talk to him.” she mentioned as she skipped off. Levi shook his head a couple times in annoyance before looking off to the direction shit-for-glasses had come from. He sighed. Might as well talk to the brat. 

 

When Eren had watched Hanji close the door, he had decided then would be a good time to talk to the feral version of himself that apparently caused his black-outs. He closed his eyes and gradually relaxed.

_Hello?_ He thought, hoping the being would answer. **Hello again.** Thought the creature, materializing in front of Eren. He was still a slightly shadowed version of himself, and still feral, but still an almost replica of himself. Eren got straight to the point. _Are you good?_ He asked. The creature looked at him confusedly. **Don't get. You know. Not evil, kind, don't kill people… No evil. Be kind. Kill who try hurt family and part-mate.** The ‘Eren’ in front of him said.

_Are you human?_

**No**. The answer was immediate.

_Then what are you?_

**Not knowing**. He sounded almost sad. Eren frowned. What could he be? _What will happen if I accept you?_ Eren asked, deciding to save the other questions for later. **Won't lose memories**. **Be there all time. Same you. Senses higher. Keep family-pack safe**. Family pack? _Can I control you_? He asked. The other Eren looked vaguely uncomfortable. **Sometimes**. _Can you control me?_ He now looked both disappointed and uncomfortable. **Sometimes**. Eren nodded. it appeared that this Eren might not know how to lie.

_Alright, I need to talk to… family-pack, then we'll see about.... Me accepting you._ For a moment, the feral Eren seemed angry, then he covered himself in shadows and was lost in the darkness of Erens mind. _Interesting._ Eren thought. And that's how Levi found him. Lying on the table with a concentrated look on his face and clenched hands. When Levi opened the door, Eren opened his eyes. “Captain! “ Eren cried, sitting up and saluting immediately. Levi looked partially uncomfortable.

“Is something wrong Captain?” the kid on the table asked. He was only 17. “Ah, no. At ease.” Eren dropped his hand, still looking at the captain confusedly. “Eren.” Levi started. Eren startled at his name. Normally Captain called him ‘Brat’ or ‘Kid’ or ‘you,’ not his real name. “Is everything alright?” Eren repeated, more worried now. Levi just looked at him for a moment before saying;

“Eren, how much of your, er, lapses, do you remember?” Eren blinked a couple times before bursting into tears. “I knew it!” he cried. At this, Levi promptly got ready to kill the brat on charge of assaulting a superior, he obviously remembered, then Eren continued. “Who did I kill?” the brat asked, tears leaking down his face. “What?!” Why was this brat crying all of a sudden? And why did he think he'd killed someone!? “Who did I kill?” Eren repeated, gasping a little now.

“No one brat! Where would you get that idea?” Levi shouted, wanting to stop the brats crying for some reason. _Probably because he's dirty_ , he decided silently, eyeing the snot and tears streaming down the brunet's face. He looked a little shocked now. “R-Really?” he stuttered through his tears, wiping at his face with his arms and hands, Levi wrinkled his nose.

“Yes! Now I repeat, why would you think you'd killed someone?” Levi asked, trying to find some shred of patience for the disgusting brat. He grabbed some tissue and placed it in front of the others unbuckled arm, not getting to close. Eren nodded gratefully, and grabbed a couple pieces. “w-well, _*sniff*,_ w-when I h-had less s-s-self con-control, _*blow*_ whoever-ever w-was n-near m-me why-when I got like that, _*blow again*_ normally got really severe injuries.” Eren told him, voice getting stronger as he ended.

“So. What did happen. Hanji told me to ask you.” Levi turned his head away. “Ask Eyebrows.” he said, not looking at him. Eren sighed and nodded, wiping his nose with another tissue. “Has this happened before?” Levi continued. Eren looked up surprised, then nodded. Now Levi sighed. “I meant here.”

“Oh! Yeah. Twice, maybe three times if you count this time. Might have been more with calmer moments where the feral Eren acted more lazy or determined and not so harsh.” Levi started at Erens seemingly knowing choice of words as if he knew this separate being. Plus, something was bothering him. “I don't remember seeing you leave or enter the compound.”

“Oh, you wouldn't. He acts pretty normal or not harsh anyway, when he leaves or comes back, my other self knows how to be careful and I manage to retain some of that carefulness each time I black out. Plus, my other self is pretty capable. The only time I've ever gotten hurt was when I fell from a tree when I woke up.” At around the time Eren finished up, Erwin walked in with a excited Hanji trailing not far behind. “Commander.” Eren said, saluting again. Levi rolled his eyes. “At ease.” Erwin says, gazing critically as Eren relaxes. “Alright. Now will someone please tell me what feral Eren did when I went out?” Eren pleaded.

They all stared at him. His choice of words seemed to suggest that he thought that this...being, was both separate of him and a thinking creature. None of them didn't really know how to take it. Eren was getting impatient. But other than that… “Didn't Levi tell you?” Erwin asked, looking curiously at him. So did everyone else in the room.


	3. The meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren catches up with his sister and best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bold is Eren in his other form  
> italics is when people aren't talking out loud  
> italics and bold is a kind of halfway state I decided on for Eren

“Didn't Levi tell you?” Erwin asked, looking curiously at him. The others looked at the short man as well. He turned his head, refusing to speak. Hanji giggled. The scowling raven stood up and headed toward the door. “I'll go greet the recruits. Hurry up.” Then he walked out. A pause, then… “Is that really a good idea?” Eren asked, still looking at the closed door. Hanji burst out laughing and even Erwin let out a small smile. But Eren looked serious and concerned. _Maybe a tad sad_ , Erwin noticed. _Hmm_. “So. Eren. Do you have any memory of the event.” Erwin asked. Eren had seemed to lose some of his energy when Levi had left the room, and he had been asked that question too many times in one day. He sighed. “I'm sorry sir, but didn't squad leader Hanji fill you in on the details?” Eren asked, closing his eyes wearily.

“Yes.” _Observant._ He thinks. “Sir, could you undo my bonds now?” Eren asks quietly. Erwin sees the hopeful look in his eyes. Here we go. “ Eren... lets first discuss what happened when you lapsed.” the other male nodded in agreement. It makes the most sense. “First off, when Levi first noticed, he had sent to officers to test your ability in surprise attacks. You easily dispatched them with etiquette you did not normally use within the first seconds of them attacking. He was watching from the tower a little more than 10 meters off the ground. You did not have any gear on. When you looked up toward where he was, he noticed a change and immediately searched for a weapon. When he glanced back toward the window, you were standing on the sill. He had looked away for only a moment.

When you managed to enter the room fully, you attacked him, somehow fending off his attacks and managing to back him into a corner. At around that time, I felt something was wrong and went to investigate. I headed toward the sound of” at this point, Erwin paused to think of a better word than ‘moaning’ and to get a better look at Erens face. He looked horrified, but stayed silent. “Scuffling” Erwin finished. “After I walked in, I saw it would probably be worse for me to try and fight you and talking didn't work, so I went off to search for Ms. Hanji. We came back and you two were… rolling on the floor. Ms. Zoe was effected by an olfactory drug that you somehow emitted. Levi had been effected for a few minutes and Ms. Zoe soon started being affected as well. I was not, and brought her back.

She administered a concoction which…” at this point, Hanji interrupted. “Are you woozy at all? When you woke up? You got just a sip of it and went out like a light! Anyway, I think that's enough. Levi went to sleep a few minutes after you and woke up a bit before you too. Lets untie you now!” she said, excited and fast. Eren looked like he had stopped breathing. He stared wide eyed at nothing for a moment before saying, tightly, “I attacked captain Levi. oh god, why hasn't he killed me?” he was a bit pale. A few seconds went by. “And I managed to overpower him.” Erens face went more pale. “I also drugged him.” He added, more to himself than anything. If it was even possible, his face went whiter. He rose a shaking hand to his mouth, staring at nothing. Hanji and Erwin heard a mumbled “oh god” behind the hand. They looked at each other. Hanji shrugged, Erwin sighed. “Well” Erwin said, “I guess we should untie you know. You seem pretty safe.” Eren looked slightly panicked.

“Are you sure, sir? What if I go crazy? Or attack people? Or...” “Eren.” Erwin interrupted.the boy paused, then breathed in deeply and sighed. Reaching both his hands up and rubbed his face. Wait. the commander and the squad leader stared uncomprehendingly for a moment before looking down to the strap that had been holding down Erens wrist. They were broken. Like they'd been ripped. The bands were metal and leather. Metal and leather was not easily broken. “Eren, sweetie, would you mind lifting your leg for me please.” Eren looked at Hanji strangely for a moment before shrugging and bracing his hands behind him and straining to pull one of his legs up. After a few seconds of nothing moving except for his thigh to start trembling, Eren gasped and relaxed. “It's alright dear, don't worry about it.” Hanji told him, looking critically at the belts.

He shrugged again, then froze. He looked at his previously strapped down hand, then grimaced. “Oops” he muttered. He didn't sound very alarmed. “Can you untie me now?” Hanji paused, then shrugged and pulled out a key. Not taking off the straps wouldn't accomplish anything. “I'm going to go see the recruits.” Eren told the pair, hopping off the table and heading out the door. The scientist and the commander watched him leave. “Better keep a close eye on him.” Hanji murmured. Erwin nodded, then strode after Eren. Hanji shook her head, then followed.

 

“Where is he?” Mikasa asked impatiently. It had been to long. Almost 3 months had passed since she had last seeing her beloved brother. Where was he? “It's alright Mikasa! Its Eren, Im sure hes fine.” Armin tried to calm her. She glared at every one of the adults there. Where was he? Were they hiding him?! “Mikasa! Armin! There you are! I've got to talk to you guys.” they heard a voice call. Mikasa whirled around. “Eren!” both Mikasa and Armin shouted. They ran to him, hugging him tightly. Mikasa patted his head and shoulders, nodding. “You're not dead.” she told him, satisfied. She walked around him, poking various spots nodding the whole way. “Or hurt. That's good.” She finished her inspection, then dragged him over to a table with Armin clinging along. “So, what did you want to talk about?” Armin asked.

“Oh.” Eren was suddenly nervous. Mikasa narrowed her eyes. “Did they hurt you?!” she exclaimed, then paused. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open slightly. Eren and Armin stared at this open display at emotion. They later guessed they shouldn't have been surprised. It was Mikasa with Eren. What else do you expect? “Did you find a _lover_?!” she hissed, a menacing aura starting to come off her. “No! Nononono! Mika! Where would you get that idea? I don't even like anyone like that! No, they _know._ ” the last two words were heavy. Mikasa immediately closed her mouth and crossed her arms, brow furrowing. Armin also knew what he meant and laced hi fingers together to place them in front of his pursed mouth. “Well, before we get to that, what's been goin’ on with you guys?” Eren asked. Armin glanced at him before saying; “Ymir's dating Christa, Sachas dating Connie, Reiners dating Bertholdt,” Armin listed, then absentmindedly mentioned,”I'm dating Jean, and Mikasa's still single, but sh...”

“What!?” Eren roared, face twisting. “You're dating horse face!?” “Yes! Calm down! It's not that bad!” Armin now tried to calm down Eren, who had stood up. Eren looked at Mikasa who looked back at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Armin looking at her, also waiting for her reaction. Eren sat back down. At this moment, Jean, aka horse face, decided now would be a great time to talk to the small group. “I heard my name.” he said as he walked up. Eren slowly turned in his seat. “Horse face. I just heard something interesting.” Jean always thought Mikasa would be the hard one to handle when he started dating Armin. Looking at Eren right now, he immediately changed his mind.

“Oh? What's that?” Jean answered nervously. Armin looked between his new boyfriend and his best friend. They hadn't killed each other yet. So far, so good. Armin blew out a relieved sigh. Too soon. Eren stood up slowly. _**“Let's have a chat.”**_ he said calmly. “Ah, Eren, heh-heh, why?” Armin asked, stressing the question. Eren turned to Armin. The breath went out of him. The brunet's eyes had a strain of yellow in them and when he looked down at his hands, his nails had grown into little claws. Armin nudged Mikasa and nodded toward his hands. She nodded and turned to her brother. Looking into his eyes, she said “Play.” “Nice.” Armin added quickly. Eren gave a small grin ** _. “Alright.”_** Eren told them, voice rasping the slightest bit, but not fully changed over. **_“Follow me, horse meat.”_** Eren said to Jean. The nervous horse turned to Armin, and when he nodded tiredly, warily followed the grinning wolf out the doors. Mikasa and Armin sat in silence for about 5 minutes before Armin started talking.

“Should we go check on them?” the commander had started talking to them a couple minutes ago and looked like he was nearing his end. About 2 minutes later, the introduction ended and a basket of papers was set on a desk near him. “ These are maps of the base. Look through them and decide which top three rooms you want to be in. Please discuss among yourselves who will be where. I will have the final say. Any rooms you see not on the map have already been claimed or used. You are not allowed in them. You may pair up. Please do not leave the room. If there are any questions, the senior officers will answer your questions.” Still nervous, Armin hurried to the basket and grabbed a couple sheets and walked back to Mikasa. They looked through them and decided they would pair up. As long as they had a window, they didn't care where they were at.

3 fights and 5 minutes later, Eren and Jean walked back into the mess hall. Eren had a satisfied smirk and Jean was pale. They both headed to where Mikasa and Armin were seated. Jean slid in by Armin and and Eren sat by Mikasa across from Jean. Armin heard Mikasa whisper “friend-mate” into Erens ear. HE watched as his claws receded and his eyes grew completely green. “So what's going on?” Eren asked, oblivious to Jeans incredulous glance. “We’re choosing where we’re staying. I'm gonna pair with Mikasa. Sorry Jean.” Armin said, looking apologetically at his boyfriend. “It's okay.” Jean replies, something like relief in his eyes. “Where are you sleeping Eren?” Mikasa asks curiously. “Ah.” Eren looks away,” the basement.”

Mikasa turns toward him sharply before nodding stiffly and goes to tell Erwin what they want. She knew she would have to wait awhile before actually getting there because of the line, so she glanced around, surveying the other recruits. She caught sight of the squad leader talking to the captain. The one who beat up Eren. She glared, narrowing her eyes. She watched as the short bastard paused and looked her way. She continued glaring. She observed as he glanced behind her, back to her, than said something to the wildly gesturing person with glasses. She realized the shortie was talking about her. Asshole.

She narrowed her eyes even farther before she felt a hand clamp over her shoulder and continued to stare at the captain as eh looked away at something to her right like he hadn't been watching her. “Yes, Eren.” She asked, still not turning around, but continuing to stare. Something had happened. The unshakable captain looked a little nervous. She knew only she could tell. “I smelt something.” he told her quietly. She finally glanced at him, moving forward with the line. “Its progressing.” It wasn't a question. “Yes. I’ll tell you two later.” she nodded and hugged him. Another fight broke out. He hugged back. Something's different, Mikasa thought, and I want to know what it is. She watched as Eren walked back to the group. The fight calmed down. She looked back at the shrimp. He was watching Eren.


	4. Ren and Meat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> enter Eren turned Ren, and an overprotective and caring friend. Hence, the meat,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a bit short, but I plan on making the next chapter a little longer

“Levi! Hello?! Are you even paying attention?” Hanji asked, disappointed. It was shocking really that she had stopped long enough to notice. Levi was staring at something. “How did she do that?” Levi asked. “What?” “How’d the black-haired girl with the bitch face calm down Eren?” Levi elaborated, repeating his question, genuinely puzzled. “What!?” Hanji exclaimed. He gestured vaguely toward the rude girl who was glaring toward him. The girl from before, Mikasa. He realized. The one who'd looked like she would have liked to kill him when he'd beaten up the brat.

“Brat went out to talk to some two tone haired kid, leaving half feral, comes back, bitch face whispers something in his ear and it goes away. Still pissed at two tone, but not feral.” he explained. Hanji studied the group. Eren sat in his chair, arms folded and angry-faced. He appeared to be arguing with a blonde-brown haired kid with another small blonde who seemed to be trying to calm down the fight. Oddly, only a couple people glanced at the two, not worried at all. She tuned in to a couple kids looking at the pair. “...at it again.” a kid with buzzed hair and half closed eyes commented. “Should we stop them?” a freckled, black haired kid asked. He doesn't sound all that worried. “Nah. They'll cool it within a coupla minutes...probably” buzz-cut says. Freckles sighs. “I hope Jean doesn't feel like he has something to prove.” Buzz cut nods his head, agreeing. When the topic changes to someone named ‘Sasha’ and ‘food’, Hanji stops listening.

It appears Levi finishes listening to the same group. “I wonder why Eren hasn't killed him yet.” he mused, lacing his hands together. Hanji realizes he's talking about the feral version of the kid and laughs. “Ah Levi, I'll always wonder how you think” Hanji says, wiping a tear from her right eye, moving her glasses askew. He grimaced and brought his foot atop his knee, unlaced his fingers, and grabbed his tea, holding the rim. “Damn shitty glasses.” was all he answered. Mikasa, Armin, and Eren were finally alone. Albeit it was in a random empty room. With no furniture. But it was quiet and away from everything else, so it worked just fine. “So. You went feral 3 times?” Mikasa questioned. Eren nodded. “Maybe a couple more times, but yeah, I think so. Twice I went to kill titans outside of the base. Barely even a scratch.” “How many deaths?” Armin asked. You'd think they were discussing strategy with how everyone was taking this. “No humans, but about 15-25 titans. My most accurate guess would be 17. Each time, I didn't tell the superiors. I had to mention your name though, Mika. Sorry.” Eren told them, wincing. She sighed. “It's okay. We should have told them in the beginning.”

Eren closed his eyes and breathed deeply a couple times. “Is there something else?” Armin asked, calculating how much this would inconvenience his small family. And Jean. Eren kept his eyes closed. “I managed to speak to the being in my head. He wants to come out. And I want to help him. We agreed. His name is Ren.” Eren finally opened his eyes and lifted his head. HIs friends were staring at him, frozen. Slowly, Armin's face morphed to uncomprehending disbelief while Mikasa seemed to both agree and disagree with his idea. “What.” Armin finally said, voice flat. “I want to combine our personalities. It would take a while and he would have to be here both more often and longer, but eventually, he and I would be here simultaneously. If needed, a hidden part of our full personality can come out, making us fully one type of person. I have less than him because I've lived in the here for longer. He agreed to go straight back when you're done.” Eren explained. He seemed a little too calm.

“You can communicate?” Mikasa finally asked. Armin stared at her. Eren shrugged. “When he wants to.” Armin continued gaping at the two of them, hysteria rising into his features. “You're considering it?!” he shrieked. Mikasa turned to her friend. “Think, Armin! His feral side makes him more capable than even I am! He beat me every time we wrestled! Plus, with his human emotions, he wouldn't be near as feral anymore. We can at least talk.” Mikasa said insistently. Armin breathed out. “Fine. Fine. But he goes straight back.” Eren nodded and closed his eyes. Then he smiled. But it wasn't Erens. Armin watched as his friends teeth sharpened and lengthened, canines elongated into fangs, nails grew and curved into claws, hair grew into shaggier proportions, and his limbs expanded until he looked both lankier and taller. Ears became slightly larger and pointed, nose perked and facial bones more harsh. You couldn't know all the differences unless you watched them happen. The beast opened his eyes.

 **“Hello.** ” he growled softly, gently. **“I won't hurt you.** ” he added. “Is… is Eren there?” Mikasa asked. **“Yes.”** he told her. Armin watched as...Ren lifted his nose into the air and turned toward Mikasa. His growl was harsh when it erupted from his throat. He strode over and nuzzled her neck. Mikasa seemed frozen. **“Smell good.”** Ren groaned before shaking himself and going over to Armin, smelling his shoulder. He wrinkled his nose. **“Horse meat.”** Ren grimaced, calling Jean his own version of Erens nickname. The Ren smiled and turned to the door. “People!” Ren yipped, sounding excited. “Wait! Ren! No!” Mikasa unfroze and reached for her brother. He stopped and glanced at her pleadingly.

“Why?” he whined, the best puppy eyes ever appearing on his face. Mikasa hesitated. “Just...wait for us. Okay?” Ren nodded eagerly and grabbed their wrists. “Come on!” he seemed to bark. Ren opened the door, letting go of his friends wrist and sniffed the air. He yipped, then off he went. Armin and Mikasa ran after him. He continued on, stopping every once in a while to stick his head in a room or sniff a corner. Then Armin's stomach growled. Ren halted and turned to his friend. Mikasa stopped to catch her breath. Armin leaned against the wall, gasping.

“Ah! Ren(huh-huh) yo-your(gulp) really(huh-huh) fast.” Armin gasped. Ren looked at his friend concerned. He didn't even have a hitched breath. **“Friend-mate?** He whined worriedly. Armin smiled weakly and slid down the wall. He was really glad for recruit training now. Who knew he'd need it to keep up with his friends? “Just tired.” he reassured the beast. His belly grumbled again. “And(deep breath) hungry too, apparently. Heh.” Armin told him, smiling wryly. Ren looked worried. Suddenly, he stood up straight **“Hunt. Get meat. You stay.** ” Ren said, then sped off to a close window. He hopped onto the sill, then, giving a quick smile behind him, jumped off. They were 5 meters off the ground. Mikasa ran over with Armin looking alarmingly at her. Expecting a squashed Ren, she saw instead a running-off Ren. Armin limped over.

“Should we be worried?” he asked, still breathing hard as they watched him speed off, almost a blur with how fast he was going. She shrugged. Armin silently wondered how fast Ren could go if pushed to the limit. They wandered off to get a feel of everything as they waited for either Ren or Eren to come back. Eventually, they came across Ymir and Christa. “Hey! Wheres Eren? I thought you guys wouldn’t separate for the rest of the day?” Christa asked. Mikasa shrugged. “Don't know. Just ran off somewhere to go get food in the woods.” Mikasa answered distantly.

Christa stared at her. Mikasa was always over-protective of her Eren. She would not be okay with him running off to who-knows-where. “And you're okay with that?” Christa asked disbelievingly. Armin answered. “He's gotten really strong” he told her carelessly, also shrugging. She stared at the two. Eren was always in trouble, and they weren't worried at all? Were they sick? Suddenly, they heard a bell ring in the distance. They looked at each other, then shrugged to each other and headed toward the mess hall. When they got there, most everyone was seated in rows , facing the senior table where the Commander stood once everyone was seated. “Alright recruits! We need to develop a routine. We are first going to discuss food, and after some free time tomorrow, we’ll start on practice. But first, dinner duty! We don't have meat, but” that's all the commander got to say.

 _Bang!_ The doors to the mess hall exploded open and showed a loping Ren tugging along a sleigh-like contraption. **“Meat!”** he crowed. The sleigh was full of chickens, a pig, and some fluffy white thing that slid into view the farther Eren got into the room. “Ren!?” Mikasa and Armin shouted, jumping from there seats. He grinned happily. White fangs flashed into view. His eyes glowed gold. “Eren?” Hanji and Erwin called, confused. What was happening? Ren shook himself. Every shell-shocked person in the room then noticed he was damp. Ren licked his nose. Every person in the room stared. _Erens tongue is longer than a normal persons._ Everyone noted silently. _And he has glowing eyes. And fangs. And claws._ Ren trotted over to a chair by Mikasa, not seeming to notice the completely silent room. Sitting on the floor, Ren laid his head on the seat and closed his eyes. Soon, everyone heard soft snores coming from his throat in the death-quiet. Mikasa picked him up gently.

“No talking. No screeching. If anyone wakes him up, you'll be in a world of pain. Sasha, Connie. Find two people to help you cook. You can try to clean the animals before it rains. Everyone else, you better not bother Eren about this.” she turned to the commander. “Good?” she asked, not really giving him a choice. He nodded and vaguely waved a hand. “Good.” he called softly. Mikasa nodded and headed to the doors. His damp clothes started soaking into hers and she noticed a small tear in his shirt. She frowned. She'd have to talk to him about being careful. The recruits that saw him as she passed noticed his changing features to a more human-like creature. When Mikasa finally left out the doors, the hall erupted.

People shouted and asked questions, running to both Armin and the officers, trying to find out what had just happened. Hanji and Erwin glanced at each other, then the dead animals, each other again, and finally to Levi. He seemed to be in a bit of shock. At least, that's what Hanji hoped, as he looked completely fine. Still passive. Still bored. Still slightly annoyed...He stood up. Hanji looked at him nervously. “SHUT-UP!” Levi yelled, managing to shout loud enough for everyone to hear him. The brats froze and swiveled toward him. “There. Now. Whoever the shitty brats are; Connie, Sasha. Pick a few people to help in the kitchen and get food ready. The meats a free-for-all. Everyone else, go quietly wait outside or go to the yard and get some wood for furniture or whatever the fuck you want it for. Anyone else, you can clean. I will gladly show you the cleaning storage room. It's gonna rain soon, so don't track mud in here. You will be punished.” with that, Levi sat back down and glared at the kids in the room. They got busy.

Connie was apparently buzz-cut and his girlfriend was some red haired, twitchy girl who turned out to be Sasha They picked a few people to help them and grabbed some straps attached to the sleigh which they used to drag the meat into the kitchen. Some people went to the furniture, some talked quietly, and some just sat in their chairs. Still a little shocked. All Armin could think was “well, that happened.” and walked off to find his friends. Hanji soon dashed after him. Some of the officers helped set up the benches in the proper places.Most went to help with food. Erwin stood up with Levi when most everyone was busy and left the room. Once out of sight, Levi leaned against a wall. “This is an interesting predicament.” Erwin commented, glancing at his best soldier. “Shut it Eyebrows.” Levi snapped, sounding tired. Then he looked pissed.

“Fucking brat. Wild as shit, barges into the food-room with several crates-worth of fresh-fucking-meat then goes to sleep. Like nothing ever fucking happened.” Levi ranted. Erwin let him tire out his charade of anger. “Happy as fuck look on his face. Goddamn self satisfied shithead.” Erwin heard him mutter. Erwin started thinking aloud. “Eren shouldn't have had an unauthorized switch, but I don't think he can control it.” he mused. Levi only shrugged angrily. Erwin looked at him carefully. “I guess we’ll find out tonight.” Eren didn't wake up that night. Or the next morning. In fact, it wasn't until the afternoon the next morning that he even twitched. 


	5. The Testing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanji tries to test Rens abilities, but ends up with a bit more than she wanted to work with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I really need to learn some self control for my posting.

“I see. So he might be able to control him.” Hanji muses. “Yes. We were supposed to talk to him, but he just, I don't know. He was so adorable. Like puppies and kittens. Then he ran off. Jumped out a window 5 meters off the ground. All I did was admit I was hungry and he does something crazy like that? We don't even know yet if he was conscious.”Armin explained. Hanji nodded. “Can we wake him up?” she asked. “You can try, but I doubt it'd work. He sleeps like a rock when he switches.” Mikasa answered this time. Hanji wrote down some notes, nodding. She glanced at Eren. The blonde and raven had told her he normally came to when he was fully transformed back. His ears were slowly changing back, but little points on his claws still remained and when she checked, his teeth were sharper than most humans along with little fangs. She was staring at him when he stirred. His ears returned to normal. His nose was perked again.

“Ugh. Mikasa? Armin?” Eren rasped. “Here.” Mikasa said, handing him a cup of water. He nodded gratefully at her and gulped it down. “Ah! I'm sore!” he complained. Then he glanced at Hanji. “I could smell you.” he sounded confused. Hanji started scribbling on her paper. “What else can you smell?” she asked eagerly. Eren closed his eyes and started to take a deep breath before gagging and cringing, reopening his eyes in a grimace. Holding his nose, he went to a window at the wall and sniffed more deeply. “Squad leader, whatever it is in that pocket in your left shoulder, please remove it. It smells worse than death.” Eren said, still trying to clear his nose. Hanji looked surprised.

“This is a sample from a titan's stomach lining. It evaporated, but it still has some kind of gas inside. I haven't opened it yet.” she explained as she pulled out a small vial from a hidden pocket in her shoulder. Eren gagged, almost dry heaving. “I'm going.” he said, hurrying to the door, holding his nose. His hand was still slightly clawed. “Ugh. I can taste it.” the three heard him grumble from behind his hand. Hanji started scribbling again. “We should go after him.” Armin commented. Mikasa nodded and stood. “”Wait!” their squad leader panted, eyes bright. “I need more data!” she shouted, jumping from her chair and tucking the bottle back into the pocket. “We need to stop by my lab on this floor. Blonde, follow Eren. Raven-head, help me.” with that, she sprinted out the door, screeching the whole way.

The two recruits looked at each other, shrugged, and followed the crazy ladies orders. When Mikasa got to Hanji's lab, she expected many things, but various tables covered in white sheets was not it. She had to look around a bit before she spotted Hanji in a corner. “Hello?” she called. The older women jumped. “Oh! There you are! Come help me.” Hanji called out, pointing to an uncovered table with a multitude of labeled vials covering the surface. She picked one up that said ‘Beans left Molar’ and tapped it. Some dust at the bottom shifted. “Ah! I see you've found Beans lucky tooth!” the crazy lady told her, walking over. Mikasa looked confused. Hanji noticed and giggled. “Don't worry about it dear. Probably better you didn't know anyway.” Mikasa looked closer at the smiling women in front of her. Who was she?

“Alright! Go ahead and pick 5 bottles from that half of the table and put them in this case.” the women ordered Mikasa, pointing at the half of the table on Mikasa's right. She picked 3 with the names Petra. Mike, and Hannah. After some thought, she also picked one labeled Hanji. Surveying the rest of the bottles, she felt a name catch her eye. Glaring, she brought the bottle to her face. Levi. “Oh, definitely that one.” the brunette said, smile widening. Mikasa glanced at her from the corner of her eye. Behind the sudden spike of excited energy, in her grin seemed to be a cold type of calculation and curiosity. She shivered. Hanji noticed and the cold look disappeared, the grin remaining.“Let's go!” she called. Mikasa grudgingly placed the last bottle in the pouch and followed the other out.

Around the time Mikasa had been eyeing the bottles, Armin found Eren. He was lying at a window, back against the side, nose pointing out and eyes closed. “Eren!” Armin yelled to his best friend. Eren cracked open an eye. It was an amber-green color. _**“Hmm?”**_ he grumbled, his voice a soft growl, and almost exactly in half from human and animal. He stretched languidly, making his body move in a feline motion. Eren gave a full body shiver, looking like a wolf shaking off water. The gold ink his gaze brightened into a jewel green. “Oh. Hello Armin. Rens coming now. We’ll talk about what happened at the mess hall later.” With the, Eren closed his eyes and Ren reopened them, his golden gaze focusing on the blonde boy in front of him. After glancing around a bit, he looked at Armin, confused look set on his face.

**“Other friend-mate?** ” Ren asked, sniffing the air. “She's...joining us later. Why don't we, um, find her! Can you do that?” Armin asked, wanting to test Ren. The other recruit shrugged, sniffed the air, and trotted off in the direction Armin had just come from. Curious, Armin followed. A few minutes later, they came across a couple of people walking down the hall. Thinking it was Mikasa and Squad leader, he raised a hand. “Hey, did you guys find what you needed?” He called to the figures. They drew closer. They weren't Mikasa and Hanji. “Ren, would get behind me please?” Armin tried to ask the wild creature in front of him. He sniffed the air, tilted his head to the side, and looked questionably at Armin. “Come on boy.” Armin felt like he was talking to a dog. Ren didn't seem to follow this train of thought.

Giving a small “yip!”, he went to the window, climbed up, and sat on a shadowed corner of the sill. Armin sighed and waited for the two people walking down the hall to reach him. “Hey.” Sasha called. Connie waved as well. “Have you seen Eren? I wanted to talk to him.” Sasha looked around. Then she saw Ren. She stiffened and sniffed the air. Connie immediately went tense as well. His girlfriend had made him aware of her past as a forest girl, and her instincts were almost always straight on the dot when it came to danger and hunting. Ren stared at Sasha, she stared at him. Then he jumped off the windowsill. “Ren.” the wild boy's’ eyes snapped to his ‘friend-mates’. “Friend.” Armin said gently, explaining. Ren relaxed, muscles flowing into a more settled and laid back position, and gave a soft growl. A greeting. **“Hello.** ” he tried to gentle his rasp. **“Ren.”** he added, offering his name as a peace offering. It made sense to him. He looked at Sasha intently.

“U-um…” she stammered, still stiff. Armin looked nervous. “Sasha likes to hunt.” he interceded, hoping to lessen the tension. Erens eyes brightened, sending an eerie glow in his gaze toward the trembling girl. “Y-yeah.” she managed to get out. Connie had taken a defensive position in front of the shaking girl. Ren strode toward them, his strides long enough that he managed to reach them in only a couple. Connie stiffened as the wild creature drew closer. Then the golden-eyed creature sniffed Connie's neck. He blinked. What? Ren nodded at a confused Connie, then headed past the stunned cadet. Armin watched as Sasha grew tenser and tenser as Ren drew closer. Suddenly, Sasha's fist came flying at the males face. Armin blinked, and when his eyes reopened, the scene was different.

The potato girls’ fist was in Rens fist and and standing calmly in front of her. Sasha gasped, eyes widened. Ren licked Sasha's cheek. She blinked. Connie blinked. Armin blinked again. Then they all blinked all over again. Ren blinked once, the move deliberate. “Sorry about that. Ren wasn't trying to scare you. He retreated. Thought's things be getting aggressive if he didn't leave.” Eren explained. And that's how the crazy lady with glasses and the over-protective sister found the group. Eren dropping Sasha's wrist and everyone on various states of confusion and bewilderment. “I smelt you.” Eren said simply when the two came into closer view. Hanji grinned, eyes gleaming.

“Well! Sweeties, I need you two to leave. You don't have to worry about keeping this a secret. Although it'd probably be better if you made Ren sound more tame, alright?” Hanji nodded when the other two did, then turned to the other three. Eren was sniffing the air, a slightly glazed look appearing in his eyes. His nose was pointed to the bag Mikasa was holding. She looked at him curiously, wondering what h was smelling. It hit here like a train. Levis’ bottle is in there. She thought, looking carefully at him. He shook his head a few times. Hmm. “Well!” Hanji yelled suddenly, clapping her hands. Armin startled. “Eren! Raven! Blondie! Let's go!” she shouted, marching down the hall. Inspiration hit. “Actually! Eren! Why don't you lead us?” she asked excitedly, pulling a cloth from a pocket somewhere and stuffing it in Erens face. He shrugged and smelt the cloth.

“Yay!” she crowed, hopping up and down. Eren sighed and took a deep breath into the cloth through his nose. He had a confused look on his face when he looked back up. “Squad leader… have you been blowing things up again?” Hanji blushed. Eren took a deeper sniff. Then blushed himself. “Er… how's Mobilt?” Eren asked, his ears glowing red and pink dusting his cheekbones. Hanjis jaw dropped. “I've washed that cloth 5 times! 3 if you count Levis washing as 1. And its Levi.” Then her eyes glazed a bit. She started mumbling, a few words like ‘titans scent’ and ‘Eren detector’ being heard. “Anyway…” Eren interrupted as he turned in the direction Hanji had started to go. “Where we goin’?” Armin asked. Eren glanced at him as he continued walking, Hanji still muttering absently. “I don't know.” Eren shrugged. “But it's somewhere the superiors spend a lot of time. Plus, it has to be a personal room. Probably with a lock.” “How do you know?” Armin asked, awed. Erens ears burned. “I know Mobilt.” He stated matter of factually.

 

During breakfast, Erwin had needed to order several people to stop asking questions. It didn't help much. Hanji was insane, although approachable, but she could also talk in confusing circles, and no one wanted to try and unravel that mess. And Levi...well all Levi had to do was sit and give his signature glare and everyone backed off. Breakfast was a loud affair and one, Erwin had reminded him, that he would be expected to attend. Bitch-face and the blonde kid he'd dubbed as mushroom head had excused themselves early, hurrying out to watch the brat while he slept. Hanji had soon followed. Now, Erwin and Levi had finally left the mess hall and attempting to find Hanji. After a couple of fruitless hours of searching, they had gone into o the Superior's Room. At the moment, they were talking about the Problem and heading towards the triple locked room.

“We could use the tranquilizers Hanji created.” Erwin suggested. Levis glare intensified. “Tch. But would we just hand them out to everyone and just be like; ‘if you see Eren and it looks like he wants to eat you, get him to drink this. But he's really fast, so make sure you get it the first time and while you're at it, don't break the bottle, he probably knows what the substance is.’ Brilliant idea, eyebrows. And what if he learned what the bottle meant?” retorted Levi, annoyed. Erwin rubbed his eyes with his fingertips and sighed. They'd reached the door. They both glanced at it in confusion as several voices filtered through. A mumbled ‘Erwin and Levi’ was heard along with ‘scent’. A weird low sound and ‘Levi’ again. The glowering man felt a shiver run up his spine as a growling noise drowned out the voices for a moment. Erwin and the shortie glanced at each other before looking back at the door again. Erwin opened the door. And stopped.

“Come on eyebrows. I can't see through your huge-ass back. Do you want me to kick you? Cause I will kick you…” and so on. Erwin still didn't move. Mostly because he was being told not to by a much more dangerous source. Do. Not. Move. Hanji was mouthing while wrapping a couple cloths around Erens head. Before his eyes were covered, Erwin caught a glance at a golden glow seeming to glow in the dim room. The commander stiffened. This being felt dangerous. Like before. All that showed of arena head was his ears. Grabbing a pair of thick handcuffs, the scientist clapped one of the crescents on a twitching Rens left wrist, tightening the other on a couch bolted to the floor. The boy was squatting by the arm of the piece of furniture, more animal looking than anything else. Hanji nodded once, satisfied, then walked over to Mikasa. She made some motions with her hands that the other women evidently understood, as she walked over to a desk and put a pouch in one of the doors. With Hanji watching her, Erwin looked around the room.

His gaze paused on a petite, blond...child, sitting in a large, leather chair. Although eh appeared soft and cute, Erwin could identify the intelligence and determination thrumming just behind his eyes. Oddly, Erwin felt his heartbeat pick up and a peculiar yearning to know this small creature made itself known in Erwin's chest. At that moment, Hanji glanced over at the taller blond and noticed his fixation on the smaller man. She smirked and noted it down silently for further exploration. “Come in.” she suddenly announced, startling the Armin and causing Mikasa to look up. Erwin cut his eyes to his smirking subordinate and studied her gleaming eyes. Inwardly, he sighed. There would be hell to pay for this later. Ren turned his bandaged face to the door, whining. Erwin took a couple steps inside the room. Levi snarled as he stalked inside the room. His hiss was quickly drowned out by a throaty growl.

The blood in Levis face drained in one fell moment. They all turned to Ren. The cloths had slipped, allowing everyone to see the clenched teeth being bared. Fangs glistened in the dimness of the room. Everyone shivered, then froze as a sweet smell assailed the room. Levi had stopped once the growling had started, and now his face smoothed from wide eyed alarm to blank-faced indifference. When the smell reached Armin, he relaxed, eyes lowering and thoughts of comfort and safety soothed his body. Reaching Mikasa, she tried to resist and get to the door, but she was soon overtaken, the smell reminding her of her old, diminished feelings for her adopted brother and new feelings for the blonde girl with a blank expression. Bracing himself, Erwin was caught up in the smell. Conscious enough, he closed the door to avoid the smell leaking out of the room. That's all he managed to do. Within that time period, the olfactory drug had dulled his senses and feelings of comfort mixed with victory raced through his body. Levi watched warily as the opaque gas spread through the room.

“That shit better not touch me.” Levi glared at the panting boy a few yards away from him. He studied the gas as it wound around him, leaving him thinking clearly. Hanji widened her eyes as she watched the gas wind around the glaring captain. She knew it wouldn't work if she tried the same thing he just had. Covering her nose, she tried to run to the door. The swirling tendrils of incense barreled toward her, cocooning her body. She felt her adrenaline heighten itself, not unlike when she was researching something undiscovered and something like Mobilt lying beside her. She sighed and slid down a wall as the comforting feelings raced through her. Levi was still staring at the brat, not unaffected, even though he knew the smell racing through the room wasn't touching him.

**“Levi!** ” Ren moaned. Levi shivered. Undoing his cravat, he held it in a fist and strode closer to the panting boy. He stiffened, then strained against his cuffs, sending the wood creaking. Levi squatted in front of the mess of a person. “Yes?” he purred. He knew he shouldn't do this. But that...off feeling he'd had since seeing the boy locked in a basement, wouldn't go away. He had managed to ignore the feeling so far, but that time he had first seen Eren transform, something had seemed to kick that feeling to high gear. Ren growled and leaned forward as far as he could go, ignoring the pain in his wrists. The wood creaked urgently. Levi was right in front of him, just a little closer! **"Levi!"** Ren panted. "Yes?" Levi breathed, a soft puff of air hitting Ren's lips. Levi heard a loud snap, and suddenly, Ren was no longer contained. Connecting their lips, Ren growled deep in his throat, vibrating Levis lips against his. Levi groaned as the unique taste of a mixture of two people hit him, both the same and completely different. Out of the corner of his eye, Levi saw Rens claws extended to rip off the rest of the bandages covering his face, shredding the too thin material.

The black haired man's eyes widened as he beheld the boys eyes. They were two different colors. One a brilliant, shining, jewel green-blue, shifting in the dim light. The other was a golden amber, glowing and wild, untamed. Both were mostly black from lust. **“Go away!** ” Levi distantly heard Ren growl, giving them both a moment to gasp a breath. **“NO! I'm sta** -Leave!” Ren, then Eren shouted. The restored boy jerked away from his Captain, panting. Most of the pheromones that had been drifting through the air cleared as soon as Eren returned. Both his eyes were green, but now one had a ring of gold around the pupil. The occupants in the room shook their heads, trying to clear them. Well, all but Levi. He had never been touched by the drug. Giving them a few moments, Eren paced in a small circle. Once most were coherent, he started talking. “I ne _ **ed t**_ o run.” they heard him push out. You could almost physically see him pull the words from his throat, the words half animal randomly thrown in, face shifting between less human and human. “ _ **I will be ba**_ ck in two days. _**Ma-**_ Capta _ **in**_ , I need you to eith _ **er be far away, have a strong sed**_ ative, a knife, chains, or a combina _ **tion of the few if**_ you get near me. Mikasa is the _**only one who can se**_ e me alone. Try to _**get the recruits**_ used to the idea of Ren.” with that, Eren blew forward, causing a small breeze as he headed out the door, stirring the last remnants of scent.


	6. The story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikasa shares a story from when Eren was a recruit. Levi is helpless when it comes to feeling for others,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking I might make a POV for Eren or Levi? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ let me know what you think! Ttfn!

Armin stared open-mouthed at the door, Mikasa seemed to be a mix of anger, worry, and smugness. Hanji still looked a little blissed-out, and Erwin heard her mutter “I need that in a bottle”, before shaking herself and running to her clipboard.Levi sat on the floor with a dazed expression, staring at where Eren had disappeared. He rarely showed even that much emotion, so Hanji attacked him. “What did he do? Did you smell it? You don't look the same as last time. Are you coherent? Could he control you? Did you see anything? Do you remember the last few minutes? Could…” and so on. Then she noticed the broken arm of the couch and a whole new line of questioning started up. Levis dazed expression was quickly being replaced by his normal annoyed glare.

“Four-eyes! Would you _shut up_?! We need to talk.” Levi interrupted. Hanji smiled. Her favorite phrase. Her brain ran even faster than before, trying to find a response to trigger her dear Lee-Lee. “Sooo. Levi. How would you feel if I told you that our honey-brat was unable to be around you because his feral side, or Ren, as he decided to be called, went wild when even a teeny tiny vial of scent from you was in the same room?” Hanji smirked, almost hopping in her chair to see what her new experiment would do. The subject felt an odd mix of smugness, sadness, and a desperate need to have Eren there. He tried to hide it but based on the gleeful rising onto Hanji's face, he didn't quite succeed. “Lee-Lee! Oh, you're so adorable when you're embarrassed!"

Annoyed and slightly confused, Levi lifted a hand to his face and, with the tips of his fingers, brushed his face. He felt his own eyes widening as he felt the heat there. He stood up from the floor, hurried over to the vanity and looked into the mirror. And stared. His pale features were now a pale red, covering his entire face and fading to his collarbone. His lips were moist, and he watched as his tongue automatically flicked out to lick them again. His normally neat hair was a mess. Levi touched various parts of his face as if they weren't his, watching as the blush just stayed there. Finally looking away, he noticed shit-for-glasses interested looks, both eyebrows and mushrooms heads calculating looks, and bitch-faces deadly glare. In being confronted with danger, all traces of red left his face. “First things first. We give the brat half a day to cool off, then send bitch face to talk to him along with eyebrows or shitty glasses and then come back and make a plan. I'll tell the recruits about the brats position. Any problems?” Armin looked slightly confused with all the nicknames, but nodded his agreement. Erwin didn't move his eyes off the smaller blonde, but nodded his consent.

Hanji started clapping her hands and shouting “Me! Me!” Like the insane person she was until Levi agreed and said she could go. And Mikasa… Well Mikasa looked upfront murderous. Striding forward until her and Levi were face to face(well, face to chest, but that's not the point) she glared into his face. Levi tilted his head back, annoyed with having to look up at the ceiling to see someone's face. “What. Did you do. To Eren.” Mikasa seethed, menace dripping from every word and freezing on the way down. Levis glare intensified. “I didn't do anything bitch face. What are you talking about?” He asked, annoyed. If possible, Mikasa looked even more angry. “The fuck you didn't do anything! Before he came here, my brother had lapsed a total of 15 times. _15. _ Over 7 years! Now he's lapsed” a pause, adding it all together. “5 times! In a week and a half! Not counting all the I between states that he has more often lately. You people hadn't even noticed Eren was different until he attacked _you_.”

No said anything about Erens Titan shifting ability. Maybe because they didn't want a pissed Mikasa's attention on them, it screamed danger. “Eren has killed 15 men, 3 women, and 2 children.” Mikasa suddenly said, sounding tired and lowering herself onto a chair. “The children because they woulda died in the first couples hours anyway. Who wants to suffer like that? The women were abusers and didn't they hate being told what to do. Ugly wretches. Anyway. Eren killed them when they took it too far. Erens killed 4 of the men in his regular form, but sometimes, you can't tell which Eren was. Couldn't tell if he was that animal creature or human. Didn't know if he'd suddenly attack people because he could smell their rotten center and know they would do something bad in the future. Our town was the safest around.

“Eren never tried to kill the recruits in our group though.” Levi wondered about that two toned kid he had seen Eren talking to at the mess hall.” So they must have been fine. "I also know that only one recruit killed out of all of us was insane. There was no official report, so you wouldn't know. But this guy was literally insane. Psycho. Capturing, torturing, and killing animals he caught from the woods.” Levi glanced at Hanji. Her normal, manic grin had been replaced with a frown and bangs covered her eyes. Levi thought Erwin was the only one who noticed. Levi didn't see Armin studying the entire group. Mikasa's face was blank as she continued, voice dead. “This guy _laughed_ when one of his tortured animals got out and started attacking people. One guy lost half his hand. Samuel laughed as the injured trainee screamed. I think the final straw was when another of the rabid animals got out of his room. In a room with me, Armin, Ymir, Christa, and a few others that I don't really remember. It happened so quickly… The animal was circling us, it was a fox, not letting us out the door, snarling like it wanted to kill us. I think Samuel might have sharpened his claws.

"Ymir was a meter away from Christa when it suddenly jumped towards her face. If you know Ymir, she would do anything to protect Christa. But not this time. She wasn't fast enough. Then, just before the fox would have landed on her face, Eren grabbed it by its nape and snapped its spine. He hadn't been in the room when the fox jumped. I know hed been on the other side of the compound.” no asked how she knew. “Christa hadn't even made a noise. She stood there in shock as Ymir's momentum from rushing at her when the fox jumped pushed her over. One second foxy was jumping toward Christa, the next" _*crickk*_ Mikasa made a noise like a spine cracking, Armin and Hanji flinched as Erwin and Levi tensed. “he was on the floor spine snapped, Eren- well, Ren- in the middle of the floor and smelling the air, his eyes glowing and calm. He didn't even look at me. He just kind of paused, then headed out the door. When he passed me, he ran a clawed hand down my cheek, then flew out the window, fast enough I almost didn't even see him leave.” Mikasa shivered as she closed her eyes and swallowed. Levi studied her carefully, but she continued, not finished.

“5 minutes later, everyone in that compound heard a short, panicked, scream. I was with Sasha. She froze and said it was the sound of a creature who knew it was about to die. The scream was mostly human. The sound didn't last very long, a second or two at most. The echo lasted forever though. We waited for 3 hours before we started to look for him. I went into a wooded area, Armin the only ones who came along. We looked for tracks, but the area was free. Not even a snapped branch. The smartest predator we’ve never seen.” Mikasa chuckled darkly, opening her eyes. She gave a small shake of her head, eyes closing partly again before opening fully.

“By the time we found them, more by Armin's knowledge of Ren than anything else, the pieces of the body that we could find stank and Erens mouth was covered in blood.” Everyone but Armin looked at Mikasa sharply, heads swiveling quickly. Hanji was pale and Erwin looked like he was calculating of how to use this to his advantage more than if he should be worried or not. Armin looked sick. Mikasa gave an unamused smile. “Don't worry, he didn't eat him. Although he did throw up a good amount of blood when he came to. He'd just managed to rip out his throat with his fangs.”Even Levi was feeling a bit sick at this point, but it might have been the thought of that blood over perfectly clean clothes than anything else. _Everything would be **dirty**_ **.** The absolute _horror_.

“Me and Armin had to drag Eren into a river. He hadn't woken up at that point. We left the animals with Samuel. When we managed to carry Eren back to the compound, everyone was worried and the trainers were starting to freak out. When we managed to set him In a corner, about to explain, he woke up and hopped up, totally refreshed.” Armin didn't put in how Mikasa hadn't let him even think of the idea that he would carry Eren. Mikasa continued with her story. “Everyone just stared at him. He didn't remember a thing. Sometimes, though, I wonder how much he could really remember. He hadn't seem surprised when we told him, and he isn't all that good at hiding his emotions. He seemed almost…satisfied. Don't get me wrong, I hated the guy. But that kind of terror? Ren coming after you with intent of destroying you until almost nothing is left?” Mikasa shivered and Armin looked about ready to throw up.

Now both Erwin and Hanji looked like they were calculation how to use this in their advantage, although Hanji didn't look like she had anymore blood in her face. Levi studied all of them, and tried to compute the amount of fear bitch face had to have to shiver like that. He didn't like her, yes. But he could also almost respect her and her strength. And her shivering had to mean she either wouldn't like to die that way or what she saw was truly gruesome. Mushroom head looked like he wasn't going to be talking anytime soon, so bitch face continued.

“For two days after that, Eren would barely eat anything but meat. Caught it himself from the woods. He drank only water, and he had an odd habit of staring at it before he drank it. I asked him once and he said it smelt and tasted weird. After that, he mostly drank it normal. The water was the same as I had, and it wasn't any different than any other day. I think I can assume, now, that his senses had been heightened and the water seemed different. He also managed to pass his 3DM suspension test. Except for near the end of his test, he held it fine. When he got down afterwards, we found out someone had been tampering with his gear. The fact that he had been able to hold it at all was damn amazing, the fact that he managed to hold it that long made him better than even some of the people above him for the Top 10.

“After that, Erens other skills also heightened. He could tie us up in combat, and a few times, he even managed to find spots on my body that managed to paralyze me. One on my neck, another near my back. I almost want to see him fight you.” She said wryly to Levi, studying him. “You'd lose, but I suppose that's the point.” She added. “I wouldn't lose.” Levi said certainly. “At most, he'd probably be able to stop me for a few seconds at a full lapse. Mikasa studied him carefully before nodding her head. “Yes, you wouldn't lose… The first time anyway. In less than a week, though, he would have memorized all of your movements, and then he'd beat you.” She taunted, smirking at him. Levi huffed, unable to prove her wrong without Eren there. Hanji looked happier now, probably because she had an experiment she could try to test now. Erwin had shifted his staring from Mikasa to Armin. “How's Jean?” Mikasa finally asked into the silence. The words were relaxed but her demeanor was tense, ready to attack this ‘Jean’ at a moment's notice.

“Eh? He's fine, I guess. I think he likes Marco though, so I'm going to see if he wants to break up.” Levi jolted as he realized what the brats were talking about. They were openly talking about same-sex dating! “What about Annie? Hmm? I hear you've been _talking_.” The mushroom ribbed. For some reason, it seemed as though the two recruits were completely ignoring that 3 of their senior officers were in the same room where they were discussing something as ridiculous as crushes. A light blush brushed Mikasa's face, and her eyes cleared. “Well, since there wasn't a chance with Eren-as he is oblivious to pretty much anyone" _T_ _itan obsessed freak_ Levi heard her mumble fondly"-I decided to give myself another chance. But…” she gave a long suffering sigh, “it appeared everyone was either stupid, weak, ugly, or they took one glance at Erens golden eyes, turned tail, and ran like he was going to eat them.” Mikasa slouched in her seat before abruptly sitting up again.

“Then Annie beat Eren and he was cool with her, and she seems to get me, so…” she trailed off. Armin nodded, smiling, then glanced at the Commander. His smile turned mischievous then he stood up. Levi watched as the normally steady blond man seemed to get a bit starstruck before he again turned toward the ravenette to watch her reaction. She seemed amused and curious, glancing at her friend with an eyebrow raised before also standing up. “I'll pack up to stay the night in the woods. I guess Section leader Hanji is coming with me?” Mikasa asked as Armin headed towards the door. The crazy scientist nodded her head so fast her glasses ended up falling off her face. The raven nodded once, the walked out the door. The blond devil gave one more wicked smile towards the commander before closing the door.Erwin staggered over to the leather chair and plopped down, holding his head in his hands. “Well!” Hanji suddenly exclaimed. Both men looked at her. “It looks like we all have a match now!” She said excitedly. They looked at her before glancing at each other. In unison, they gave a long, deep sigh.

 

The recruits who initially knew Eren, also had a general idea about his...condition. They didn't worry too much if something odd happened including him, his best friend and genius, Armin Arlert, and the obsessive, crazy strong half-sister, Mikasa Ackerman. But, the ones who didn't know the three were totally confused, so they automatically went to the ones who were calmest, mostly being the 104th Squad. The circulating story was as follows: the wild, beast-like human they had seen at dinner last night was the (by now) well known Titan shifter. As long as you didn't piss him off, you were good. He was a good person really. He just may have happened to destroy an insane killer by eating him. Attempts at trying to track down the best friend and half sister were unsuccessful and they hadn't been seen since breakfast that morning. Then Armin had the misfortune of walking in a group of kids talking about Ren.

“...ink he really did that?”

“I don't know man, but he is a Titan shifter after all…”

“We need to find that Arlert kid!”

“Yeah!” With that the group of about 5 boys and 3 girls stood up from their crouched positions and turned towards Armin, who had just opened the door. He looked at them curiously as they froze in surprise.

“Did you want to ask me something?” He asked, confused. The girls blushed, and a couple of the boys looked away, but one stared at him with a fiery gaze.

“Are you Armin Arlert?” He asked, noticeably nervous, but acting brave. Armin nodded confusedly. What was going on? “Did the Titan shifter really kill and eat 3 cadets from your squad in its feral form?” _It?_ Armin thought, miffed. He studied the boy who had spoken. Even though he was taller, the other boy shriveled underneath Armin's gaze. “No. _Eren_ didn't eat anyone. But he has killed before, just like all of you should have. Now, if you have any questions, I suggest you make it quick, cause I need to be somewhere.” Armin told them, annoyed. They continued to pester him, carrying his things when he tried to leave with the excuse of dropping of some items with Mikasa. He saw Connie and Sasha coming down the hall, equally surrounded by the other recruits. Spying them, he called out.

“Hey! Guys!” He shouted, raising his arm. He managed to catch the end of what Sasha was saying as Connie raised his arm in greeting. “...retty! Like molten glass!” Sasha was gesturing wildly with her hands, pointing to her eyes and making a ring around them while widening them simultaneously. Armin reached the couple, their groups converging. “Hey Armin!” Sasha shouted over the voices. Armin nodded at her and sidled closer to Connie, who was surveying the other recruits lazily. Ignoring them mostly. “ Want to escape?” Armin asked Connie into his ear. Connie grinned and returned with,"you kiddin’? Sasha’s so happy, she could see a potato and have a hard time between talking and eating it.” The boy smirked. Armin smiled back at him and shrugged. He knew he could trust him and his girlfriend to spread good info about Ren. “Alright. But, have you, by chance, happened across Jean?” Connie's smirk widened. “Yeah. He was somewhere behind us, a couple right turns back.” Armin smiled happily and thanked him. Carefully blending in with the kids, Armin managed to sneak through, leaving the kids that had been with him with Sasha and Connie. Turning back, he headed in the direction the crowd had come from.

After taking a couple lefts, he heard a loud voice talking snarkily to a quieter presence. Walking a bit farther, Armin saw Jean talking to, neither noticing the blonde boy behind them. Armin walked closer and cleared his throat. Jean jumped while Marco turned smoothly around, surprised. “Hey! Do you think I could maybe talk to Jean, Marco?” the freckled Jesus smiled brightly and nodded, bidding them farewell and continued down the hall. Leaving the two boys alone. “Hey Armin.” Jean said awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot. “How's the suicidal bastard?” Armin sighed and shook his head, but smiled anyway. Then he pursed his lips. “He...he had to leave,” Jean raised an eyebrow. Armin sighed again. “You know how Eren has his… more interesting moments, where he doesn't seem very, er, human-like?” Armin started. Jean nodded slowly. Armin looked down, posture tired. “Well, Eren sometimes gets into these...fits, where he turns into a halfish animal creature. We managed to keep it mostly secret until, well, once with that crazy recruit, and now, with Eren trying to mix his personality.” Jean looked more and more confused as Armin kept talking. “What?” he said finally, bewildered. Armin closed his eyes for a minute before opening them again. “Do you think we could talk in your room?” Armin asked tiredly. Jean nodded, confused, before leading his boyfriend to his room.

While Armin had been trying to find Jean, Mikasa was preparing to go after her brother. The commander had told her to pack a bag and get ready to head out with Section Leader Hanji She had nodded and immediately headed toward her rooms, Hanji sprinting off into the direction of her main lab to grab her own stuff, babbling excitedly the whole way. After shaking his head, the Commander had turned to Armin, who she had noticed paid special attention to him, and started discussing strategy. She now had a pillowcase full of any and all supplies she could need. Or that Eren might need. After finishing in her room, she had found one of the superiors and asked them (read:threatened them) to show her where he had been kept. When she arrived, she was happy to see that it looked like a normal bedroom except for the cell bars making a cage taking up most of the room.She wasn't happy about it, but she also knew it was necessary, so she ignored it. Even though there were bars, the room was altogether, pretty cozy. She gave a small smile. Eren had the ability to make all and any place a home. She relaxed slightly, letting her shoulders tense position loosen and a scowl to smooth out that had increased more and more since the beginning of the meeting.

Looking around, she noticed a page of paper peeking out from under the mattress. She sighed fondly. It might have been a good hiding place if it hadn't been so blatantly obvious. Eren had always been useless at hiding things. Worse than he was at lying, even. She allowed her smile to widen slightly as she reached for the book. Gently sliding it out from beneath the bed, she held it to her face in the dim light. It was completely blank on the front. Figures. Eren wouldn't want to announce what it was and have people snooping through his room. Opening it, she grinned down at the scribbles she saw. At least, it’d look like scribbles to anyone else to saw it. It was a secret code that her, Armin, and Eren had come up with as kids. They had all managed to speak and write it fluently when they were younger, and it looked like Eren never forgot it. Mikasa flipped through the journal slowly, remembering the lessons Armin had given them as kids on their made up language. He had always been smart. An entry caught her eye.

_August 5_

_Today, I had another attack. I woke up surrounded by a couple carcasses of a bear and a chicken. The bear had compression's around its neck, suggesting that it had been strangled. The chicken was really just in pieces. The only fact that really gave away the fact that it was once a bird were the black and brown feathers everywhere. There was a slice on my arm. I'm scared. In front of my eyes, the cut healed until all that was there was a pink line. I can never tell Mika and Ar what's happening to me. They’ll worry and then try to ‘fix’ me. I don't know what to do. And I don't think I can be fixed._

Mikasa stopped reading and looked up. Her face was warm. Confused, she brought a hand to her cheek. Shocked at the warmness there, she pulled it away. Her finger was wet. She was crying. _Oh._ A tear plopped onto the page, smearing letters. She turned a page. There was a doodle. With shock, she noticed there was a drawing there. Of her. She studied the picture in shock. If Eren had drawn this… Eren had drawn a close replica of her face in profile, a smile tugging at her lips. She sniffed, and closed the book, carefully sliding it into her pillowcase. After grabbing a couple pairs of clothes and some soap, she went back up the stairs, hoping to maybe catch Armin before they headed out. After wandering around for a little bit with no luck, she sighed and headed toward the outside doors. She caught a few people in the kitchen and asked them if they knew were either her best friend or Ms. Hanji was, and they pointed her to the outside with no information on where Armin could be. Leaving a message with one of her squad, she headed to meet with the crazy scientist.

 

Hanji was currently going into another round of excitable seizures. Or as Levi liked to call them, Glasses Rabies. “Oh, Levi! I’m so excited! There's so many experiments I could try!” Hanji screeched, almost vibrating with excitement, and freaking out the recruits who were near them. Or far away, really. Anyone in a 2 km radius could hear the crazy brunette. Every time she moved, anyone in the near vicinity could hear little jingles of metal about her person, but no one asked. All Levi did was roll his eyes and glare. This woman thing was going to drive him insane. The Section Leader had the small sled that Ren had brought the meat in filled with various equipment that she felt like she’d need. Levi, of course, felt she was being ridiculous. “Why would you need that much equipment if you're just going to check on him?” Levi asked, annoyed. Hanji grinned.

“Well, for one, someone needs to stay with him! The brass are NOT going to be happy if they find out that Eren can also apparently change into another type of creature that they nothing about. I am going to remedy that. Plus, you can't really be around him at the moment, and leaving him by himself would not be a good idea.” Levi raised a thin eyebrow while squashing down the annoyed heat in his stomach when Hanji mentioned him being unable to be with Eren. Why would it matter? He didn't even like the brat. “You’re going to spend a night outside, with something you know nothing about, around titan territory, with no help for kilometers around?” Levi asked skeptically. Hanji grinned and yelled out a hyped “Yes!” Levi sighed and his glare increased in intensity. It was going to be a long couple of days.


	7. The Working Conjunction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikasa and Hanji ride to a forest where Mikasa knows Eren would probably be and they talk to the boy trying to find equilibrium with his other half.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im trying to decide what to call Eren/Ren when they are both conscious. So far, I've just settled on calling them 'them' or however they're related to who's view it seems to currently be in;ex: her brother, his friend, their subordinate, etc, etc. If you have any suggestions, that would be great!

To say he was nervous would be an understatement. He was sure that he was on borderline _terror_. This creature inside him was causing a lot of problems. For one, it had attacked the Captain _twice_ now, had made it necessary to run away to get away from said captain, and now he was lost. Well, he said he was lost, but he could easily find his way back. The scent trail he had left would make it easy to go find the compound. But he couldn't. Not with the Captain there, and certainly not when he had lost control such a short time ago. After running for about 10 minutes and no longer being able to smell civilization, even downwind, he had slowed down. 5 minutes into the run, he had felt the beast stop fighting him and instead lending him his strength, now understanding what he was doing without the distraction so close. Why they couldn't take their Captain. Why it would break him. Why it would break _them_ if their Captain was ever shattered beyond saving.That they would do anything to keep him safe. At first, Eren had completely blamed Ren for the way he was feeling. Eren didn't...didn't _love_ the captain. Ren had agreed. No, they didn't love Levi. Then, after Eren had been placated by this response, Ren had finished his thought.

 **But it would be easy.** Eren scowled.

 _I simply admire him! It can't be easy having the entirety of Humanity hoping on you. I’ve only gotten a taste of it, and I can barely stand that._ Eren then found out that Ren had a much simpler look on things.

 **Just mate him**. In his mind, Erens mouth hung open. Mate Levi?! Did Ren seriously just say that?! Although it was more accepted in the recent generation, male/male relationships were not generally announced. And Levi was not the recent generation. _We don't even know if he's gay?!_ The argument was weak. They had both smelt the nervous, but excited, scent of Levi as he had walked closer to them without the help of the drug or hypnotism that Eren now knew he had in his large arsenal of weapons. They had both smelt the arousal and relief that had come off Levi in waves as he drew closer in that small room. The smug scent he had let off as he knew that this time, he was in control. A control that he soon lost. So, here they were, arguing-if you could even call it that- as Eren tried to come up with reasons to stay away from his superior. So far, he hadn't made a very convincing argument.

It didn't help that Ren barely understood the social structure of the humans government system within the Survey Corps. So what if he was a superior? Just prove you're strong enough, and you deserve to be put up there, don't you? Why does it matter he's a titan shifter? Doesn't that make him stronger and more capable of taking care of his mate? Then there was that word that Ren kept using. Mate. At first, Eren hadn't noticed. It had just seemed so natural coming from either of their lips, he hadn't noticed that they had been using it until Ren mentioned it twice in one sentence. When that conversation came up, Ren had simply refused to call Levi any different. Just like when talking with Mikasa, Eren knew he wouldn't get anywhere with this, so he dropped it. Then they had come across the topic of loving the Captain. Eren absolutely refused to see reason. Well, in Ren's eyes, anyway. This was easy. ‘Woo’ him for a bit, then mate him and keep him yours forever. Simple math, even though Ren didn't know what math was. He was satisfied with communicating this with Eren.

Eren was not so easily convinced. How would Levi even react to such an attempt by a subordinate? Ren didn't know, or necessarily care. Eren, on the other hand, worried like hell. Ren was annoyed with his twins mind, as Ren liked to think of Eren as. **How ‘bout this**. Ren was always more articulate in Erens mind, both with practising talking more and having more information available to him now that Eren was more aware of Ren. **We give Mate Levi a reason to like us in the first place, then give him something to trust us with, then we mate him.** This was how most of their conversations were going. Starting with ways to get Levi to like them, and ending with getting Levi to ‘mate’ with them. Eren decided Ren was helpless when it came to courting.

 _No_. Eren said with finality. Ren smirked sneakily. **But you can't exactly control me, can you?** Eren frowned. _No. But you can't come out whenever you want either_. Ren nodded agreeing before his smirk appeared again. **No, I can't**. **But, I now have the ability to appear more often, don't I?** Erens physical body paled noticeably. Right now, they were currently on a branch a few meters off the ground, laying down. Along with some other permanent changes in his body, increased balance was one of them. He had easily balanced on a branch to have this conversation, lying on his stomach, one arm underneath him, the other hanging off. If anyone had been watching Eren during the conversation, they would have noticed Erens features changing almost imperceptibly into a more wild look, sometimes slightly back to human, then more feral again. But no one was around, so Eren went right on changing, ignoring the world in favor to a certain annoying beast by the name of Ren.

 _What do you mean?_ Eren asked uneasily. Ren snorted, his eyes narrowing. **Why do you think I wanted you to accept me so bad? To have a friend?** Eren nodded, confused. Ren sighed. He couldn't lie to his mind-twin. Well, that's part of it, **but I also want to see the world. I get experience second-hand. I only get to taste and smell and touch and hear through you. I’ve had very little personal experience. It’s like...you and your walls. How you only were able to connect with the outside world through the books friend-mate Armin gave us.** Ren paused to let this new information sink in. Eren looked thoughtful, and kind of sad. He knew how hard that was, and to impose that on someone when there wasn't really a very good reason to, like titans, it was evil. Eren sighed. _Alright. Okay. Well, I can let you out freely, and you said that that mixes us just a little bit more every time?_ Ren nodded once. Eren nodded thoughtfully a few times.

Along with knowing that Ren was there, he gained the ability to be aware while Ren came about. It was very helpful, and allowed Eren to fight Ren when he did something stupid, like snap the chain to the couch. After becoming aware that he could fight Ren, he discovered that Ren could fight him. When Eren had realized this he had asked Ren about it while they were running. **It would have made both of our lives harder. We also wouldn't have been able to mix so easily now. I shouldn't fight you just to satisfy some temporary urges when they can be fulfilled much easier and more if I'm patient**. Eren sighed. It seemed that even beastly Ren was more mature than he was. Wonderful. Having mostly come to an agreement and now feeling slightly guilty, Eren immediately wielded control to Ren. They really needed to figure out a system. Ren opened their eyes.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Section Leader Hanji asked. Mikasa sighed internally. This was the third time she had asked in the past half hour.

“Yes.” she replied shortly, nerves grinding. Hanji was silent for a moment. If anyone who knew her were there, they would’ve stared in amazement. Why wasn't the crazy scientist Squad Leader gathering information!? “Say, Mikasa, how long have you known Eren?” Hanji asked Mikasa hesitantly. Mikasa's gaze slid slowly over to her superiors curious face. Mikasa sighed. “Since he and I were about 9...why?” she asked. Hanji murmured something under her breath before suddenly smiling largely. “I was just wondering because you guys seem quite close! He mentioned that you and your blonde friend already knew about Ren.” Hanji said, studying the blank-faced recruit from the corner of her eye. Mikasa sighed. So that's who Eren had mentioned her to. She nodded. “So.” Hanji started, then grinned. “How do you know where Eren is?” Mikasa frowned slightly before deciding it wouldn't hurt anyone if she told the Squad Leader.

“When Eren first met me, he saved me from danger. Ever since then, I’ve had a kind of...6th sense to where he is and if he's safe. I also got some kind of danger radar that tells me the general direction it's in and to avoid it. Ren is a little more scratchy, hard to catch sometimes. For him, it more like snatches of a conversation. I don't know if he can subconsciously block it, or if my danger radar contends with his presence. Ren is very dangerous. When I was younger, he was the fifth most dangerous thing I’d ever felt. As he got older, it always wobbled. Sometimes he’d be the second worst, and sometimes he wouldn’t even appear on the danger-dark, but still be that weird, jittery type of placement.” Mikasa said, looking straight ahead still trying to place where Eren was even as she talked. “Right now, He's somewhere in this direction. He keeps going in and out. One minute he's crystal clear, the next, he's as jittery as if he were Ren.” Hanji looked thoughtful. “Can you tell how far he might be? She asked, curious. Mikasa furrowed her eyebrows in concentration, lips pursing.

She tilted her head sideways in a type of uncertain motion most people would use a shrug to convey. “About half a kilometer. I think.” she answered. They looked forward. A few meters ahead were a small forest, most areas dense enough to not even see through. They entered. Hanji looked over to the black haired recruit just as she drew in a deep breath.“EREN!” she shouted. Hanji jumped in surprise. The girl had a good set of lungs on her. You couldn't tell that just by looking at her. She's so quiet. The brunette thought absently. She braced herself for the next shout. “REN!” she shouted. A branch shook.They both looked at it. A leaf twirled down. They watched its path before glancing farther up. And froze.

A golden-eyed creature stared back. It lay lazily on the branch, staring at them languidly, letting its gaze flow over their bodies. It yawned. Some primal part of Hanji told her to start running and screaming. She twitched. Mikasa looked at her brother. “Hello Ren.” she greeted calmly. A slightly forced calm. The barest tremble made itself known in her left shoulder. The horses stood stock still, muscles shaking in fear. Hanji wondered why they weren't bolting. Ren smiled.

 **Hello, Mika.** he answered, jumping down. He stalked over to Mikasa's horse and grabbed the reins. Leading the terrified horse to a tree, the boy whispered something into the petrified beasts ear, making it twitch. A few seconds later, the large animal was calm enough to be properly staked into the ground. Mikasa still sat on the horse. Ren looked at her with his honey gaze. **Squad Hanji.**  he purred. A shiver ran up the Squad Leaders spine. Even with her being much taller than Ren from sitting on such a large horse, he made her feel small. “R-Ren.” she stuttered. Ren smiled and grabbed the horse's reins from the women's frozen hands. Leading the beast close to Mikasa's horse, he staked it down with a stick. Ren smiled up at his sister before lifting her off and setting her down with no apparent effort. Mikasa collapsed on the grass. Ren gave her a reassuring smile before looking back to Hanji. He unhooked her riding boots from the stirrups and grasped her around the waist. She managed to crane her neck jerkily until she looked down at him. He gave a toothy smile.

 **Oopsy-daisy.**  he said, lifting her up and setting her on her feet. When he let go, she swayed a little before steadying a hand on a tree branch. Ren turned away and walked toward his sister. Slowly, the dreadful feeling that had set up residence in her, faded away. Immediately, she was pack to her normal, chipper, excitable self. While Hanji had been regaining her sense of self, Ren had walked over to Mikasa and looked her in the eyes. **I don't affect you.** he said slowly. Mikasa looked dazed for a moment before her head slumped and she jerked back up, her eyes clear. She gave a small smile. “How are you?” she asked. Ren returned her smile with a wide grin. **Your brother is finally listening to me!**  he replied happily. Mikasa looked surprised. “Your language is better.” she noted. Ren smiled a little bigger and explained. She nodded as he went, never moving her eyes off her half-brother. **...and then I woke up**.  **I heard you yelling after a few minutes, not that your scent could have been much stronger, but that was easier.”** he shrugged. “Well, kiddo. That's quite a story, but you seem pretty in control, let's go back to base.” Hanji said, smiling. Ren stopped smiling.

 ** _No_.**  Anyone would be able to hear the panic and stressed out sound layered in that one syllable. Hanji raised an eyebrow. “Why not? Except for that small bout when we arrived, everything's gone smoothly, and you’re calm. What's the problem?” she asked, hands on hips. Ren took a deep breath. **I can't be near Mate-Levi. I need more self control, and currently, Eren is undergoing a change.**  Suddenly, one of Ren's eyes flashed green, looking determined. It was an odd contrast. Ren grunted and said aloud, **You think you would’ve been okay with it? Really?**  then he lapsed into muttering. Hanji looked closer at Ren. He doesn’t look as wild. Hanji noticed, studying him. Sure, he still had the glowing eyes, pointed teeth, dagger claws and slightly elongated limbs, but he looked more sophisticated.

His language was more human, his hands hanging gently instead of curled like they were going to kill someone, his ears still pointed, but weren't doing the weird twitching thing that they had when he had been at base, and his eyes were gentler, more kind. His eyes.... Wait. One eye was a greener color. Still just as bright, but of a more greenish hue than gold. And one eyes was a slit, like a cat's, while the other was a normal human pupil, slowly thinning out into a cats slit. Mikasa and Hanji looked at each other, then back at the muttering boy, now sitting on the grass, wearing a pout and folding his arms, every image of a petulant child. “Um, Ren? Come on, can you tell us what you have happening up in that crazy mind of yours?” Hanji said hesitantly, too excited to keep quiet. Ren looked up, annoyed. He looked at her a moment before rolling his eyes and closing them. “Mm.” Hanji said, staring at the boy. Suddenly, Ren opened his eyes in a somehow jerky motion. One eye was jewel green and both had human pupils.

"Mika! Rens being stupid!" Erens voice came out of Ren's mouth. It was odd, because it wasn't a mixture of the two at all. It was clearly just Eren. Hanji tilted her head at the sound. It was like hearing Petra's voice come out of Erwin's body. Hanji giggled quietly at the thought. Mikasa glanced at her but mostly kept her gaze on the pouting boy in front of her. “Whats the problem?” Mikasa asked, amused and intrigued.

“Rens sayin _ **g that n**_ ow I’m going into a **_mind meld type th_** ing, but I like mys ** _elf! I_ ** don’t want to ha _ **ve to let Ren have c**_ ontrol all the tim _ **e! He** _ could do someth ** _ing stupid_**!” Eren said, voice mixing every once in awhile, making a smooth, low growl sometimes intercept his speech. Mikasa sighed. “Eren, you do really stupid things even without Ren there.”

“Mi ** _ka!”_**

“No, Eren. Rens probably more tactful than you at getting out of trouble than even I could do. Do you know exactly how it works?” Eren pursed his lips, brow furrowed. “Ren say ** _s that our commu_** nicating could go much faster an ** _d we would_ ** basically simultaneously exist, allowing us both to come to an agreement and respond to a situation in the same amount of time it takes **Eren to respond to Horse meat.** Hey!” The last part of his sentence, it seemed that Ren intervened and pushed Eren away for a moment, finishing it off with a statement that both women understood. Well, mostly.

Mikasa was the only one who truly clued in on who ‘horse meat’ was. Eren/Ren had closed their eyes and looked like he was having a very annoyed argument with each other. Hanji and Mikasa looked at each other before walking to the sled to unhook it from the horses. “Well. I’ll make a report and after some food, maybe you could head back and report.” Mikasa nodded and started going through the items. Hanji looked over at the boy in the grass and knelt down in front of him. “Are we camping here?” she asked. They flashed open their eyes and looked at the spellbound Hanji. One eye was gold, the other green-blue. **_“We? You are going back. I don't know how much control we have. Night might make things worse.”_ ** then their eyes seemed to turn inward and she heard them mumble ** _“of course, though, it’s Hanji, so…_** ” They closed their eyes again. “I’ll take that as a yes.” she said, standing up and brushing off her shins.

She walked back to the black haired girl. Helping her unpack around a shaded area of trees, Mikasa lifted the final bag and headed over to a shaded area Hanji had dubbed her resting spot. She set it down and sat on the grass, looking out. Hanji smiled at her. “You go ahead and rest, I’ll organize this into a proper Hanji-style catastrophe!” Mikasa watched her curiously as the Squad Leader trotted around, carrying things around and seeming to just dump things in random places before spreading it out, hopping up and repeating the routine in some other area. After about 15 minutes of this, Mikasa looked over at her brother. He still hadn't moved after his initial position of laying on his back, hands laced and lying below his chest. He was breathing gently, and Mikasa thought he looked like he was sleeping. But she also knew better. If he was napping, it was the lightest of catnaps, but from the occasional lucid twitch and infrequent opening and closing mouth, it was clear they were talking to each other. “Aright! Now all I have to do is find a pen and some paper and you can be on your merry way!” Hanji chirped happily, striding over to a bag that she had dumped around and grabbed what she needed.

Mikasa looked at her and stood up. After brushing off some of the dirt that had settled on her pants, she walked over to her brother and shook his shoulder. It was nearing sunset, and she would have to leave soon. “Um, Eren? Ren?” she murmured, not sure which one was currently there. She had noticed that their features would sometimes change by small, minuscule, changes till their features were more human or beast. As she had continued to watch, the changes had ranged less and less until they didn't seem to change anymore. Everyone in awhile, she would look away and look back a little later to see some small difference that wasn't there before. At the moment, his features were mostly Ren, but they had been since he first arrived at the now makeshift campsite, so she didn’t know if that was just how he looked now, or if Ren was dominant at the moment.

 _ **Yes?**_ at that moment, the eyes that had previously been closed flicked open to reveal one of Erens original eye color with a slitted pupil and another with Rens eye color and the same cat's eye. Their voice was a perfect mix between Ren and Eren, making it smooth with an undertone of a growl, deep and mature. A shiver went through the girl. The perfect mix between Eren and Ren. “I…” she swallowed. This had suddenly become much harder. They sat up, looking Mikasa in the eyes. He nodded at her, his eyes gentling. She swallowed again and cleared her throat before continuing. “I have to go soon. Would you mind taking care of Hanji and do what she says? Shes...shes a friend, okay? Do you understand?” she asked gently, trying not to offend Ren while trying to understand if she was talking to Ren or Eren. He smiled at her, calming her nerves. He nodded once at her, the move smooth and quick.

 ** _I’ll grab some food for you to take back to base. I’ll run you halfway there so you don’t get lost._** he said the last part with the smile. They both knew she wouldn't get lost. It was just a convenient excuse to stay together longer. They stood up and brushed of their thighs, shaking like a dog after a bath, before walking over to the now empty sled and picking up the rope. He ran off into a darker part of the forest, his presence fading off as he got farther away. “He goin’ to go get food?” Hanji asked, watching with Mikasa as they left. She nodded before going to some of the piles of ‘stuff’ and trying to find things to make food. She looked at the guilty looking scientist. “Squad Leader, did you bring anything for food? Matches maybe? Or seasoning? Maybe a pot?” Hanji looked away.

“Heh-heh. Hmm. Must have forgotten those.” Mikasa stared at her for a little longer before shaking her head and going to a sack where she shook out any dust or such that may have been in it. After she was satisfied with the cleanliness of it, she walked over to a small jug of water that she discovered and poured half of it into the bag. Water started straining through, during which Mikasa shook the bag before pouring out the rest of the water onto a tree. It came out mostly clear, so she walked over to Hanji and handed it over to her, all the while giving instructions.

“When my brother gets back, have him fill the jug with water. It may take awhile, depending on if you’re near a stream or river. Dig a medium size hole in the ground. Stick a leather bag in it. Put the water from the jug into the bag until it's mostly full. I’m assuming you don't have any seasonings, so just ask Ren to get a variety. He should know the difference by smell. If he can find any wild potatoes or onions, cut them up and mix it with some meat. The meat should be PRE-cooked, alright? Coarse, I don't know if Rens still a fan of the red type, so ask him. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Ren should be the safest person to be with if you're going to be in the forest, so don't wander too far and you should be safe.” Hanji nodded every once in awhile, showing she understood. Honestly, she looked a bit too excited. But, Mikasa figured she was weird anyway, might as well ignore it.

Soon enough, the beast-boy came back with a fat buck which he instructed Hanji to cut up. Although she looked a bit confused why she immediately answered the boy with a chipper “okie doke!” and watched them ride off. She stared at them a bit longer, slightly confused, before shrugging and trotting over to slice the animal up. At first, Mikasa had gone at a fast trot, thinking that even her brother couldn't be fast enough to go as fast as a horse. So, he took things into his own hands. Mikasa watched as Erens eye disappeared into a sea of gold and Ren smirked up at her. She automatically knew what it meant, and was curious herself to how fast he could really go, so she took off. After a few seconds, a breeze blew past, she laughed into the open air and kicked her horse's side. It ran at a full gallop before she saw the cloud that had been Ren, no longer continuing farther. Sighing, she slowed her horse to a stop and looked down at her brother. He smiled at her. And he wasn't breathing hard.

 **Tell Horse Meat I’ll kill him if he hurts Armin.** Ren joked, looking into her eyes sincerely, at odds with his joking tone. Mikasa gave a small smile and nodded. She looked up. Ren had taken her farther than he should have. The gray of the castle was showing just in the distance, making it easy to follow. “Thank you..oh. Bye.” she whispered, tuning just in time to see the start of a dust cloud and the back of Ren to head away. Sunset was near its end, so she was able to watch as the light grew dimmer until no sign of Ren was there. She headed to the base, guessing that dinner (or breakfast, depending) would be hell.

 

Hanji was a mess. She had seen Ren take off and just as she had watched the last of him disappear, a sudden dust cloud appeared like something had dramatically increased its speed. After that, she had been frantic to record the dimensions, so she had rinsed her hands as quick as possible, and rode over to the cloud, which was just starting to settle. After doing her best to record anything she could about the speed of something to make the dust cloud, she headed back and tried to make dinner. It had taken a little bit, but she finally managed to cut up the meat and fill most of the pouch thing with water. With some mental work, she managed to deduce after a couple confused tries, that Mikasa forgot to mention to start a fire below the pouch. Or maybe she just forgot that part… But, oh well now! She had figured it out! Yay!

After filling the pot thing with water and some spices she had brought, (that she may or may not wanted to use for testing) she found a couple potatoes and onions by a tree, which she promptly cut up and put in the stew. After she had managed to make a fire that she deemed would be safe enough to make, she put half of the meat onto a sharpened stick that she found by the onions and potatoes. After cooking the meat mostly threw, she slid it into the bot and watched as it slowly boiled. After a bit more searching, she found a few separate piles of more herbs and chose a few stocks to put into the soup as well. About that time, it was getting dark, so she went over to the edge of the makeshift campsite and stood vigil, knowing the old saying about a watched pot not boiling was very true in her case. After only a few more minutes (where she felt she almost froze to death) a caught a shadow moving directly toward her.

A bit nervous, she rose the torch she had a bit higher until she caught the gleam of an animal's golden glare. She sighed in relief, partly because nothing human or animal moved that fast, and titans didn't look that small. She watched, partly in awe, at the sheer speed at which he could travel, allowing a small dust cloud to raise up and stir, She had seen it before, but only caught the tail end. Here she saw the complete glory at which he traveled. A short while later, she watched as the Ren slowed to a walk once he neared the trees, and his eye changed color. As soon as as the last gold glow faded into shining green, something almost appeared to hit him in the stomach, and he groaned, bending over at the waist and taking deep breaths. After bracing himself a couple seconds, he walked toward the scientist and nodded toward her.

 ** _F_** ** _ood?_** Smiling, Hanji ladled a couple spoonfuls of stew into a bowl that she had scrounged up, along with a beaker she always carried around with her for ‘food’ emergencies. Well, most of the time it was food. But that's not the point! Anyway, after some small sips of the bowl in his hands, Hanji sighed loudly into the silence and spoke. “Well, you don't have to act sophisticated around me, shifter-boy. I seen things you probably couldn't even imagine. I'm sure some messy eating isn't going to bother me.” she reassured, smiling at the staring boy. After a few seconds of intense staring, the boy shrugged and smiled toothily. After that, animal noises ripped out of his mouth as he devoured everything in the bowl and headed over to the pile of raw meat she had covered with a cloth to keep the bugs off. He seemed to hesitate a moment before glancing at her curious face, shrugging and pulled off the cloth. After another couple of seconds of an apparently intense, silent debate, the recruit dropped to all fours and plunged his face into the raw food. Hanji looked away. Yes, she had a strong stomach, but watching that brought back bad memories. Acting like an animal didn't help his case either.

She finished her food and got seconds, happy in the knowledge she was able to eat as much as she wanted. Feeling vaguely uncomfortable for some reason, she looked up. She started as she realized they were staring at her, not bothering to wipe of the excess blood left from eating the meat. She sighed and crawled over to him on her knees, wetting a cloth as she went. As she reached him, she brought the cloth slowly to his face. When he didn't move, not even twitch, she cleaned his face, focusing more on getting him clean that what she was cleaning. As she wiped off his face, she started talking. It was one of the things she did best with, after all, and she hated silence, so she needed to fill it with something, whether anybody was listening or not didn't necessarily matter. Just as long as it wasn't quiet. She wasn't entirely sure what she was saying, only that it wasn't quiet anymore was the important part. Suddenly, Eren grabbed her hands.

Both his eyes were green, but a ring of gold surrounded the pupils. The still slitted pupils. “Squad Hanji, it's okay. I can sing if you want me to. I suck, but I can.” Hanji stared in surprise for a moment before laughing and agreeing. She fell asleep to the slightly scratchy sound of Erens smooth voice singing some lullaby, the tone slightly changing until it evened out to the velvety sound of Rens and Erens voice mixing. Hanji smiled as she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so I dont know what happened with the bag thing, Im just going with, 'this isi what happens in my world' type thing? :/ dont blame me.


	8. The Recruits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanjis day with the Beast. Levis day without him, and Mikasa being herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry! Okay, so my internet was out for a couple days, and I couldn't access ANYTHING. Then my family and me left to Montana to go see some relatives on my dads side, and they live in the mountains with internet not even being a possibility... We got back a little before 11 on Tuesday, but I did try to write, so,,,yeah

When Mikasa arrived at the base, she half expected to see almost the entire recon core to be waiting at the gates to question her. But of coarse, they weren't. This was most probably due to either the strict regiment that the Commander had set up and left the recruits exhausted, and/or the threat of Captains Levi that made them wary of disobeying curfew. Walking down the hall, she followed the memorized internal map to the Superiors Room. Sometimes, if she was paying close enough attention, she could still catch snatches of the pheromones Ren had let off. At first, she had been mad at the shrimp. How dare he take away her Eren?! But, after some thought, she decided that she couldn't change Eren  _or_ Rens mind when it came to someone he cared about. She sighed as she remembered Erens face when he had first seen the Captain atop his horse while riding past on one of the first riding expeditions.

After coming to that realization, she had decided she would do all she could to get the two together, even if it was only a little while. So far, she hadn't gotten to do very much due to the mess Ren had created. After seeing him, though, in his intermixed state, she wasn't sure if it was Levi or her brother she ought to be worried about. The Captain had another thing coming. She knew the Captain had some feeling for her brother, and it wasn't annoyance, (although that was there too) but she guessed he didn't even realize it, due to his steadfast belief that Eren was simply a pest to be dealt with. so, she had made it her mission to get Levi to confess his feelings and get with Eren/Ren. She could already tell this would be in her top 3 'Most Difficult Missions'. 

She knocked on the door to the room. She was just on her second knock, not two seconds after the first, that the door swung open, causing her descending fist to hit against the Captains face , who stood where the door once was.

"Sorry" she intoned, trying to say it like she meant it. Try as she might, she just did not get along with the short bastard. She hadn't tried to hit him in the face (although that was a lucky bonus, it wouldn't help her mission). But, instead of getting annoyed about that, he simply sent her a strong glare and started speaking.

"Wheres' it? I know shit-for-glasses and she always gives an ultra-detailed report. Give it to me!" he sounded almost desperate, a certain strain on his voice. Although his face and eyes didn't show it, his hands and body in general, really, seemed to sometimes spontaneously jerk, clearly wanting to search her for the piece of paper he knew was in he possession. She glanced down and noticed a pale line running in front of the door and a little past, like someone had been pacing a very short line in front of the door for a very long time. The stone was smooth, more worn, and a lighter color than she floor around it. She noticed the taping of her superiors feet and looked at the short (to her) distance up to her superiors face, annoyed. She looked farther up to the face of the Commander to whom she rose a pointed eyebrow at, knowing he knew what she was thinking. The fabulously eyebrow-ed man stayed expressionless. 

"Section Captain Hanji Zoe told me to inform you that most of the following information is to be directly and immediately given to Captain Levi Ackerman who will relay needed information to Commander Erwin Smith. Extra information pertaining to Subject 01 Eren Jaeger will be found through Section Commander Scientist Hanji's assistant Moblit. And quote 'Under no circumstances is Lee-Lee to come to the forest alone. Mm-Kay, sweet cheeks?' end quote." hearing Mikasa's dead pan voice deliver the last of the message would have made most anyone crack up, and even Erwin was no exception. Over the coarse of her mini speech, the Commander had only shown surprise when told there would be separate information that would need to be found through her assistant, Moblit, and a smile of amusement at both Hanji's nickname for the Captain and her added extra. 

Captain Levi, on the other hand, was not amused in the slightest. As Mikasa had continued delivering her message, Levis glare had grown and grown in intensity until it would have made even Erwin's will wilt a little. When she gave the final message that the goggled lady had told her specifically to say, she ignored her added warning of running away once she had finished and instead opted for surviving the withering glare the Captain was giving her. She looked directly into those killer eyes and  _dared_ him to do something. They continued to glare at each other even as Erwin cleared his throat. Almost glad that they hadn't turned toward him, (the combined power of those glares could probably seriously kill someone) he said to the room-

"Well, I won't object. Levi, go see Moblit and fill out a new report after you finish with Ms. Zoe's. Miss Mikasa, please make sure you are in bed before midnight. I would hate to add a punishment to your busy workload." Erwin nodded to her and breezed out the door. Levi's expression had dulled when she looked back at him; a small spark of grudging respect in his eyes, his glare still there, but more of a scowl now. They studied each other for a moment before nodding and heading toward the door, Mikasa following Levi. She handed over the precious piece of paper as they walked. He nodded and pocketed it.

"If we need to talk, I'll send someone to get you at lunch." Levi told her, coming to a stop at  her door. She nodded and opened it, quietly shutting it once she was inside. Levi fast-walked to his room.  Even as he denied it, internally, he knew that whatever Hanji had to say on that scrap of paper really mattered to him. 

_Section Commander Hanji Zoe Report_

_Subject: Eren Jaeger_

* * *

**Levi, I've decided to be informal about this cause you really hate big words and I know my little munchkin really wants to know about our precious baby. Don't even try to deny it. Also, I've decided Eren has now graduated from our baby to a true animal. An adult animal. I don't know if I should be proud or terrified. They grow up so fast! Anyway, first things first, Eren is no longer Eren. Hes not Ren either. Apparently, even though they can be one person at a time, its best that Ren take the reins. 'for an easier transition' they say. Well honey, Rens fucking terrifying. He has this lethal grace for that I may or may not be obsessed with. I'm not going to worry about giving his description because about every 5 minutes I look at him, hes changed his appearance. He says its not on purpose. The only constant is one eye looks like Rens, the other Erens. Hes decided to be honest,(although I'm not sure he couldn't just _seem_ like hes being honest and even the best truth teller could tell if he was lying) and hes just told me what he can do without me testing him. I've not lost my touch , though. So he will still be tested! Anyway, he says he has the ability to send out pheromones (smells) that can make people feel certain things, he has the ability to hypnotize(if you don't know what this is, ask Erwin), he can retract his claws (another constant in his appearance, although they change in length and ends), his senses are still wavy, as he puts it, but he says he still doesn't have enough self control to go to base. ;) Munchkin, you have no idea how lucky you are. I sooo want to see him and a titan horde fight! He might be better than you are. It would be interesting to see you two fight. On second thought, I'll ask him. **

**Okay, I'm back. Either he thinks that would be fun, or he'll rip my face off the next time I ask. I reeaally want to see how far that protectiveness goes. The kid has healing properties too, apparently. His saliva is like alcohol (disinfecting properties, or pain killers), his tears can work as healing agents (not sure how he knew this one), and apparently, if he wanted to, he could sniff out the rotten flesh in an infected wound. Levi, do you know how many lives this could save? A lot. He says the only reason hes gotten this far was because of you, Levi. But if you say no, this could be really messy. Please think about it. Anyway! Onward! Tell Moblit to soak this paper in the solution I've been working on. ~~and hopefully, it won't burst into flames.~~ I'll see if we can get our Beast to get to base sooner than two days, but I can only do so much.**

To say Levi was freaking out would be an understatement. He had calmly finished the new report, dropped the note off at Moblits', then proceeded to go to his room and silently wonder if the entire world had gone insane, or if it was just him. If it was the world, then nothing had really changed and he could play this off as a prank that would be swiftly punished. If it was him, he'd quickly find Hanji and beat her for apparently putting something in his tea again. But if this was serious, he decided, he would NOT become his subordinates chew toy, and to HELL was some _kid_  POSSESSIVE over HIM. Ignoring the flutters in his stomach over the thought of someone, especially that brat, taking care of him, he swiftly stood up from his bed and undressed. Closing his eyes, he thought about what Hanji's extra notes may say about the brat his mind would not stop turning over.

 

The first thing they thought when they woke up was  ** _It might work._** Although the beasts body slept during the time they dozed, their mind never rested. So, while his body had lied along the branch of a tree, his mind had been thinking of different options to see Levi-mate sooner. Apparently, Hanji  talked in her sleep, and even she thought in her sleep too, so he had managed to catch a couple of her ideas to this matter. She clearly agreed with his decision on Mate Levi being his. After acknowledging this thought, he sat up and surveyed the area. After Hanji had fallen asleep, he had reorganized her tools in a more accessible mess, then buried the leftover meat, knowing animals would still prowl around the area, no matter how dangerous eh might be. 

After having his routine bathroom break, he headed into the forest to a tree he had spotted that had a few nicely sized eggs in it. After that, a few more edible fruits and berries were found to go with breakfast. The boy silently acknowledged that the scientist was awake by starting to softly hum, allowing sound into the quiet clearing. After first realizing that the brunette was afraid of silence, he had done his best to fill her conscious hours with noise. She smiled at him and helped herself to the pile of food that had accumulated on a piece of bark. He quieted his humming as Hanji filled the clearing with her chatter, talking about inane things like training and the base or titans. After breakfast, she quieted down a moment to just study him. He took no notice, just continued to eat the bird he had caught, picking feathers from between his teeth. In the almost-silence, they both heard the sound of bones crunching between teeth filled the air. Hanji's eyes flickered with interest, but she still continued to watch him with her calculating gaze. After a moment of silent debate, she spoke. 

"So. I was wondering. How about those experiments?" she grinned. Even though he was 10 times stronger and could incapacitate with a look, a shiver ran up his spine. 

Hanji decided that the boy in front of her was a gift from the gods. Or whatever the hell was up there, anyway, because this kid was amazing. They never managed to find titans, but that might have just been them worrying about her safety, as sometimes they would hurry her past certain areas before they stayed for too long. But otherwise, they complied with whatever she asked. She also got good food, frequent rests, and great scenery. One time, she was trying to climb onto a rock to get a better view, but her boots kept slipping. After staring for  a bit, the boy had walked over to her, wrapped one arm beneath her shoulders; the other under on the inside of her knees, and had lifted her as easy as if she was a silk dress. 

She had froze in shock as the creature holding her had jumped onto the rock and set her down, steadying her when she wobbled. Gaping, she scribbled in her notebook and demanded he carry her on their shoulders. Surprised, they had immediately agreed, and now she was enjoying a first class ride on a nice pair of shoulders. Just cause she loved Moblit doesn't mean she can't admire. After awhile, she had noticed that although most peoples shoulders were bony, and having a grown woman ride your shoulders wasn't normal, her but should have been sore by now. Curious, she asked them to let her down. When they did, she set to prodding his back and shoulders. All hard as any dudes. When asked about, they simply shrugged and concentrated a bit before nodding. She again prodded their shoulders, only to encounter soft tissue. it was like a women's breasts. Soft and pliable.

After a little bit of this, she had tried to lay her face against them, but they moved away, looking almost disturbed and had asked her to not try it again. She had nodded, crestfallen but understanding, and walked the rest of the way, noticing how the muscles slowly firmed up again. When they reached the camp, she let him set up dinner and wrote in her personal journal. When she had mostly finished, she looked up to realize that they were, once again, singing. She smiled softly as he paused a moment to eat some meat. But the noise then continued to reverberate in his throat, making it deeper and wilder. Awed, she watched as they alternated between humming in their mouth, then their throat. 

When he had finished the food, they glanced to Hanji to let her know it was ready. Smiling, she strolled over to the makeshift pot and sat down, criss-crossing her legs. As she ate the spit-cooked meat, she watched them. They had now stopped their singing, but the noise of the fire and the night sounds was just enough for her. 

"Hows your self control?" she asked suddenly, surprising even herself. They looked up in surprise. After a moment, they replied;  ** _"Not enough."_** Hanji smirked. "You sure 'bout that?" They looked uncertain, glancing at her hopefully. She grinned. "Come on kid. Lets pack up." They smiled at her.

 

When Levi woke up the next morning, his first thought was that he really hoped Moblit had finished soaking that paper. After a 4-minute combat shower and a swift get-ready routine, he walked out the door, already ready to kick ass. When he arrived, the first thing that happened was Moblits very red face above him. The next thing that he noticed was the annoying assistants' mouth was gaping open and closed like a fish. His annoyed face intensified. 

"S-Sir! I-I h-have th-the p-paper! I'll u-um. J-just, uh." He paused, nervous. Levi glared at him. His stutter was getting annoying.

"I read it, I'm sorry, and please don't kill me!" the blond rushed, words seeming to spill from his mouth. Shoving the re-dried paper into the Captains slightly surprised arms, the other rushed off, booking it down the hallway. Rolling his eyes, Levi closed the door and headed down to the mess hall. Skimming over the report and seeing no difference, he flipped it over. 

**Levi! I see the solution worked! Now, the first topic is this boys heats and ruts.**

Levi stopped dead in the room. He had been ignoring his surroundings and for once not subconsciously surveying his surroundings, so when he finally looked up, he was surrounded by staring faces watching him in confusion and awe as the unmovable Captain turned beet red. He was in the mess hall. In the very front of the mess hall. And he was the Captain, so of course people are going to notice him. Especially when his normally very pale skin was as red as a tomato. Then he growled. The ones who had thought the red had been in embarrassment quickly changed their minds when they saw his trembling body.

"Shitty glasses. I'm going to kill you." Everyone but a certain black haired girl looked away quickly. Before the Captain had walked in, all their attention had been on her. All wanting details on her brother and what was going on. Now, she ignored any more questions and strode over to the Captain who was now going straight back out of the mess hall.

"Sasha, you can have my food." she called behind her back, knowing shes would gain an ally. She heard a cheer, then snarfing sounds presumably Sasha eating. She hurried out of the room after the Captain. He immediately turned to her. 

"There is no information you need to know that you already don't. if you want, you can go ask Eyebrows for the report." Immediately deducing Eyebrows was the Commander, she nodded and walked away. She knew when she wouldn't get anywhere, and judging the look on his face, the people who had thought that Levi had been embarrassed when he had first stopped in the mess hall hadn't been completely wrong.

**Levi! I see the solution worked! Now, the first topic is this boys heats and ruts. Apparently, when Eren was about 15, he had his first heat and ended up changing to Ren half way through the week. For the rest of the day, he ended up in a tree, hot, bothered, and needing a warm body to screw him. When none came, it passed. Ren has waited since, getting half-heats whenever someone compatible passed by. How a heat works for him is a bit like the cats we saw when we go to the inner walls sometimes. Needy, haughty, and just about ready to be fucked by anything. The biggest difference is I know all the details. Eren refused to be a part of this conversation, so Ren alone talked to me about it. When Ren goes into a heat, his asshole produces a creamy, opaque substance I've dubbed the name slick. This slick also excites the dominant more when tasted, apparently. Needless to say, Ren told me I wasn't allowed to have any. The throat also enlarges and saliva ducts increase their gland size, allowing lubrication to be easier that way also. Nipples are sensitized.**

**Next is his ruts. This is a delight to write about. Eren had his first rut when he was 17. We also got a personal view of what it is like. When they go into a rut, the canines turn into little fangs and strength increases slightly. Tongue elongates and the penis leaks a special kind of precome that allows easier entrance. This boy will have ruts. You can count on that. if you decide that you are gonna go through with this, you should really talk to our boy about this. Preferably Ren, Eren can't handle this type of talk. He's too innocent.**

**Love you, Hanji**

Levi decided that the next time he saw the shitty glasses, he was going to kill her. When Levi had finally calmed down from most of his rage, it was almost time to train the recruits, so he forgot about breakfast and went to release some anger. his subconscious almost felt sorry for them. As he stalked down the hall, any and all recruits heading down to train with the Captain decided that they would pray to the God they hoped was there to spare their lives from the certain death that was coming.

By lunch time, half the recruits were barely able to drag their bodies to the mess hall, the other good barely drag their feet in, knowing what awaited them afterwards. Erwin looked concernedly at them. Why did the entire recon core look like it had been through hell? Then in walked Levi. Annoyed, glaring, and clean as always. Grabbing a plate of food, he strode over to the superiors table, sat down, sniffed the food in disdain, and promptly went to work on eating it. The others watched in awe as the Captain finished the food quickly and efficiently before standing back up, striding back to the kitchens and demanding a refill.

"Make it bigger this time." he snapped, watching the wary volunteer recruits as they refilled his plate. When they handed it back, he went back to his same spot, sat down, and ate that too. Now pretty much everyone was staring as the Captain easily finished yet another plate just as quick as the last one. Levi looked up after polishing that plate clean and announced to the silent room:

"Superiors get seconds. Don't tell shitty glasses. She'll try to get 5th's." After that, he stood up, walked over to the dishes bin, and deposited his empty and almost sparkling, dirty plate. Right before he left the mess Hall, half the recruit's still staring at him, he turned. "Class 2-0. I expect you outside in half an hour. Don't be late." he shut the door behind him. All the kids in class 2-0 started snarfing down food. 

It was near the end of the day. Dinner was over and cleaned up. Now all he had to do was get all these brats to bed and he could finally try to get some sleep. It had been a more frustrating day than usual today. And he had too much time to think about a certain green-gold eyed brat. Shaking his head, Levi sighed as he lifted back from a window. He started to walk back to his room when he noticed a bunch of recruits running to the west side of the building.  _Oh great. Now what?_ Levi thought as he turned back around to head down the West stairs. As he reached ground level, he noticed a gigantic crowd had converged on the West gate. He scowled. What was so entertaining?  _I swear, if there is a group of kids having a row, I'm going to kill them._ Levi told himself as he shoved to the front. It wasn't a row.

There, running across the open plain, carrying Hanji, all her supplies, and the freaking horse lying in the middle of the sleigh, was Ren. He was a day and a half early. Levi would have a lot of explaining to do. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was 4 in the morning when I finished this. Don't judge me.


	9. The Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanji and the Beast meet with the base and some explanations are severely needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!

 

Hanji was fascinated. They had only been traveling for barely more than 20 minutes and already the base was coming into view. And steadily getting larger. She hoped Levi was ready. She grinned wider as she looked up. She had noticed the growing audience atop the castle. _Oh boy._ she thought gleefully. Ren was in charge at the moment; having more strength and speed, and seemed to be enjoying the push on his abilities. It amazed her that this was what it took to push his limits. How much was he carrying!? 2 tons? More? She was at least 250 lbs,then there was the horse; which was around a half-ton, add the weight of her equipment and the sleigh, along with a few animals they had caught along the way? She'd have to weigh it all once she got to the base.

Hanji tightened her arms around Rens chest, hands brushing the rough rope crossed in an 'X' across his front before wrapping around his waist that then led to the sleigh. She had worried about ending up choking him, so that where she had decided to place them, contrary to his protests of her comfort. Ren stared at the castle looming bigger and bigger. Inside his head, Eren was freaking out so bad, he could almost hear it out loud.

 _Are you crazy!? You do know how strenuous our control is, right!? We  don't know what's going to happen if we scent him again!_ Ren wasn't worried.

 **Leader Hanji had us smell his cloak. We kept control then.** Erens eye twitched.

 _Yea, his cloak. Great idea. We only felt a_ _slight_ _urge to claim it and tear Squad Leader Hanji apart for having it instead of an overwhelming madness, great._

 **Exactly!** Ren grinned. Eren closed his as tight as he could, his face twisted in something akin to pain.Why couldn't his-essentially-twin understand sarcasm? Why must he go through this torture? He reopened his eyes and glared.

 _No! Not 'exactly'! For just a cloth with a faded scent, you think you're good to go? And Mikasa called you the mature one._ Eren mumbled. Ren smirked and shrugged. Although Ren was stronger and definitely more mature with a much higher level of tolerance for things that provoked him, when it came to Mate Levi, that tolerance flew out the window. On the other hand, Eren had an almost painful control on his feelings for his Captain. So tight, that in the beginning, Eren hadn't even realized that the urge to be around the Captain and please him hadn't come from his admiration, but a very compatible physical match and attraction. Eren sighed. Looked like he'd be the one leading Ren this time around.

Mikasa stared at the Captain. He was looking more and more annoyed as he watched the dust cloud get closer and closer to the grey wall guarding the base. She supposed that was his version of being nervous. Abruptly, the Captain turned to the gathered recruits. His scowl caused most of the kids watching to flinch.

"You and you" he pointed to two random recruits."go through the grounds and gather the squad's. Lead them to the mess hall. The rest of you, head straight there. No pit stops. We have an announcement to make." Even though it was a warm day, everyone shivered. The Captains voice was as frosty as ice. Mikasa stayed by the door as everyone immediately filed out, no voices escaped as they left. Then, just as most of the group was out of earshot, the stairwell burst into conversation and running feet. Levi met Mikasa's eyes. She nodded and twisted around to follow the recruits down the stairs and to the gates. Levi turned to the Commander and held out a single sheet of paper. Raising a single bushy eyebrow, Erwin took the report. As he read, the other caterpillar eyebrow rose to meet the other one until he finally glanced up.

"Well." he said. Levis scowl deepens. "You have your knife?" A slow nod, scowl smoothing out into his usual bored look. "Your gun?" Another slow nod. "Darts or Ammo?" A thin eyebrow rose. "Both." Erwin studied him for a bit before nodding and heading to the door himself, Levi turned to the tan cloud again, fingers clutching the grey stone. About 24 km. _He'll probably run that in less than 15 minutes at this rate._ Levi thought to himself. _Shitty-glasses must be having a science-orgasm right now._ He smirked to himself, then sighed. This was going to be interesting.

He headed down the stairs, telling any lingering recruits they were to be in the mess hall in less than 5 minutes or they would meet a whole new level of Hell. They didn't doubt it. In less than the required 5 minutes, almost every recruit and officer was in the mess hall, a couple of groups needing to stand because of how many people were packed into the large room. Levi surveyed the area. His squad, Erwin, and Shitty-Glasses' squad was at the front of the room, quietly observing the other people in the room and each other, wondering what the hell was going on. _That's right._ Levi realized. _No one but me, shitty glasses, bitch face, eyebrows, and mushroom head knows about the Brat._ (Armin hadn't told the superiors about Jean.) Levi walked to the front of the room, and turned to see every set of eyes trained on the shorter man, a raised platform making his form more visible for everyone. No one mentioned it.

"Alright recruits. First of all, you will now start to carry around guns with sedatives." Levi started, ever the one to get straight to the point. Erwin had a mental facepalm moment. The recruits immediate action was to stare blankly. Why would they need guns? Especially for sedatives? Nobody had told them that they had found a sedative that works on titans, and guns weren't necessary on base where titans couldn't really reach them. the officers didn't betray their surprise, but stilled any movement they had been fidgeting with before.

"They are over in the corner" a vague gesture to the back wall behind him,"and will be handed out as I talk. You are not allowed to use these sedatives on each other." A few people quietly groaned. What was the use if they couldn't use them on their friends? "You will be given three rounds. Every night, an officer will come in and check that all is accounted for." A few sighs. "Now the reason for these guns is a new experiment we are doing and may be potentially dangerous. Squad 104 may be partially aware of these dangers." A few murmurs broke out and a few people who were close to the 104th squad turned to them curiously. Their faces were pale. The people who noticed turned pale themselves. The 104th squad was one of the tougher squads, so to see that type of nervous fear didn't exactly strike courage into anyone's hearts.

"The new experiment will be in the form of a new recruit. He is human. I repeat. He. Is. Human. Any attempts to destroy said recruits will be terminated and conspirators will be persecuted. These are big words, so pay attention. He should be mostly safe, and we will enter him in quietly as to study behavior among social groups. All who notice the probable change, it would be preferable to talk to us about it before spreading rumors. If you are...jumped on by said recruit, you will shoot him immediately and head straight to headquarters to let us know. If this happens, use all three darts at once. Do. Not. Hesitate. That will be all." Levi stepped off the podium and headed out. The people who had already gotten their guns started at them blankly while the ones who hadn't jittered nervously, fingers twitching toward the people who were handing out the weapons. This was going to bee a fun week.

When Mikasa had reached the gate, she had gotten her 3DM gear instead of opening the gate. It would just take too long. By the time she had gotten to the top of the wall, her brother was slowing down about half a kilometer away from the wall. A couple minutes later, he was in front of her and smiling, eyes glowing in the dusky light. **Mikasa.** He said warmly, setting Hanji on the front of the sleigh and striding over to his sister. Reaching her, he wrapped his arms around her and bear-hugged her, lifting her off her feet. He had grown a few inches. He took a deep breath in through his nose. He sighed the breath out again happily. **You smell like home.** He told her happily. She stared at him blankly for a second before returning a tiny smile back. Hanji grinned at the two, standing up and cracking her back.

"Well, this is great and all, but can we please have this conversation inside the walls?" Hanji asked, smirking. Both siblings nodded once before turning to the scientist and the luggage. **Get the, uh...hmm, what was it called?** Ren murmured, making a turning motion with a finger on hand and rotating it around a fist.

"A pulley?" Hanji asked. Ren beamed. **That's it!** Hanji had to smile. This kid was too cute. Mikasa nodded and flew over the wall, hooking up the lift. Ren studied the stone for a bit before glancing over at Hanji and grinning wickedly. Hanji noticed.

"Oh, no. No, no, no. Not happening." Ren pouted, allowing some of Eren to float to the surface to look more like a puppy than a wolf. Hanji looked away, arms crossed before peeking over and giving a squeak at the severe cuteness of the kids face. She squished his cheeks, cooing over how adorable he was and asking if he wanted anything. Too late, she realized her mistake. Suddenly, she was no longer on her feet. She startled as she realized that Ren had thrown her over his shoulder, head at his back. He smirked. **Come on, squad Hanji, over the wall we go!** And up he went. She clutched his waist as he climbed, somehow finding hand and footholds in the rough stone.

20 minutes later, Mikasa and Ren had gotten Hanji, the horse, and all of the supplies over the wall and into the base. Mikasa filled her brother in on what was going on. "So the Commander took a few people from various squads a few hours after you left and had planned to keep them until you returned tomorrow and slowly disperse them so no one automatically guessed you were the one that was being experimented with." Ren raised an eyebrow with the wording. **Experiment?** Mikasa nodded. "Yeah. To see how you 'adjust to society and people.'" Mikasa smirked. Ren smiled at her, the tips of fangs glinting on the rising moon. A small chill ran up Mikasa's spine and her danger-radar spiked, but she ignored it. "I guess you'll need to report with Ms. Hanji, so I'll see you tomorrow." Ren nodded and sniffed the air before walking off in a different direction.

When Ren caught up with Hanji, she was almost to the room that Ren had first broken out of. Ren noticed this, but said nothing, instead opting to talk to the brunette. **I don't understand. Won't the recruits know it's me just by the way I look?** Hanji smiled. "No. We spread a rumor that because of your titan abilities, your appearance started changing and it made you sick, and that's why you haven't been at training and meal time." Ren nodded thoughtfully. **I'll change more.** He told her solemnly, knowing she should know. Hanji nodded, but also silently wondered how much more inhuman he would end up looking. They stopped in front of the oak door when Ren suddenly froze, shooting his arm out and catching Hanji's hand from turning the door handle. She stopped, surprised, and glanced at him.

His eyes were wide, nose flared, and his eyes seemed to see right through the wood directly into the room behind the door. Hanji looked at him curiously before it clicked. _Ohhhh. Hm. How to do this?_ She smiled at him. "Just wait here." He glanced at her, body trembling. He noted the understanding in her eyes. He nodded at her tightly. **Hurry.** His raspy voice was tight. She nodded and opened the door, darting in and quickly closing the door behind herself. Erwin jerked his head up from a sheet of paper and Levi narrowed his eyes further. He had heard voices outside the door and a hot flash of heat had flushed through him just a few seconds ago, leaving the tips of his fingers tingly and legs half numb.

"Hanji. You're back. We saw you on your way here. Where's Eren?" Erwin asked, gaze steady and curious. Levi glared at her. "Ren." He murmured. Hanji jerked at the sound of his voice, even though it was mumbled. "What?" she questioned. He glared at her and kept his mouth shut. "Why would you say that?" she asked. He gave a small shrug and looked at the door, eyes narrowing even more. Hanji grinned before pulling out a random notebook from somewhere inside her coat and jotting down a note. The grin on her face quickly slid off when she looked up again. Levi focused on the door.

"He's behind there, isn't he." Levi said, face blank. Hanji gave a quick affirmative nod. Levi slid his hand into his jacket and pulled out a gun, sliding it beneath the pillow and clicking off the safety. He looked at Hanji and raised an eyebrow. "Well? Are you going to let him in?" He asked. Hanji grinned and opened the door. Levi tensed, then looked confused. No one was there. Hanji looked just as surprised. "What?" She stared at the spot Ren had been. She walked out the door, looking down the hall in both directions. No one. No sound of footsteps either, and these halls echo. A scuffling noise. She looked up. There they were.

"Shitty Glasses. Whats going on? He isn't moving away." Hanji heard Levi stand up and walk toward her. She twisted around, prepared to tell him to stop, when Levi's eyes suddenly narrowed. Shoving past her, he looked up. The kids' eyes burned gold and electric green. "Shitty Brat." **_M-Levi._ ** Eren and Ren working together at the moment, then. Hanji sighed in relief. At least Ren hadn't pushed too hard on the wording. That would have been awkward. Erwin walked into the hallway as well and followed Levis gaze up to the ceiling, noticing the beast lying on top of an arch. He sighed.

"Get down from there." the Commander said. **No.** And back to Ren. Erwin's eyes widened. The only person who ever told him no was Levi, and he usually ended up doing it anyways. "Now." Erwin's eyes were narrowed now. He normally didn't order people around with such small matters like getting off the ceiling, but he somehow felt like he was being threatened as a leader, and he didn't like it. **No.** Ren repeated, gaze locked on the figures below him. Erwin noticed that Ren's eyes had left his face and instead switched over to Levis. Levi stared up impassively. His hand was on his gun holster. Erwin gritted his teeth. Opening his mouth, he readied a punishment. "Ren. Down." Levi said the two words calmly and held out a hand in front of him, pointing to the floor. Ren dropped. Hanji gasped, Erwin stepped back.

A few seconds later, Ren landed with barely a _pap_ of his bare feet hitting the stone. Levi reached up and patted the chocolate locks, twice. "I'm going to bed. Ren, wash this." With that, Levi handed Ren his cravat straight from his neck and walked off down the hall, heading for his room. Ren clutched the cloth in his hands and held it against his chest. Grinning at Erwin mischievously, he turned the opposite way Levi had gone and headed toward the basement. As soon as he was out of site, he shoved the cloth to his nose and inhaled deeply, sliding down the stoned wall and panting. This was going to be so fucking hard.

The next morning, the recruits were still nervous as hell, but slowly calmed down throughout the day. Although they were calmer, it still didn't stop them from suspecting everyone else as the 'new recruit', as they had assumed that the new one would be an old recruit taken out of a squad and tested. After it was discovered that all disappearances in the last two days had only come from the 104th squad, along with the clue during the speech, it was decided that the only guilty ones would be in that group. After a short observation, it was decided that all normal recruits from before this entire thing were completely dismissed as a distraction. After that, only 4 people were suspected. The overprotective strong-women; Mikasa, the genius; Armin, the blonde angel; Krista, and the missing titan shifter; Eren. Krista was slowly dismissed as everyone in the 104th squad said that she had always been secretive and her mysterious nature was just a part of her personality, but no said anything about the other three. The 104th squad simplify shrugged and said there wasn't much to be said about them, other than that they stuck together like glue.

After most everyone had come to the conclusion that something was off about the three, they began to receive special attention. First of all, Eren was gone. That was noticed very quickly. After all the talk about how close they stuck together, it became blatantly obvious that one of them wasn't there. When they were questioned, they were met with hostility by Mikasa, and apologetic remorse by Armin. When the superiors were questioned they were told that they weren't allowed to say anything, and no one was brave enough to question the Captain, the Commander, or the insane scientist. After the first afternoon lesson with the Captain, though, a rumor started going around that the Captain was distracted. Hr had been seen on several accounts to go down a hallway, but turn around right before he went into the storage basement and march back to wherever he had been before, only to go right back an hour or two later.

This caused quite a buzz, as it seemed that the Captain was partially lax on the training due to this. Sometimes he'd stare at you as if he didn't see you, or he'd pause before giving the next order, actually giving you a moment to rest. At the time, no one had questioned, not wanting to remind the Captain that he was giving breaks, but now, everyone wanted to know. They decided that they would ask the next morning because the recruits that still had to train didn't want to be punished after lunch. After agreeing, the new class noticed the same thing there comrades had before, and also realized one other thing. Tall brunet males with blue or green eyes seemed to be punished. Almost extremely so. While everyone may or may not get a rest between exercises, boys regarding this description never got a rest, almost worse than the normal training regimen.

When it was time to switch classes; a ten minute break being given per usual, students with the said type had to almost be dragged to the next class, to weak to move. The next class for them had been Ms. Hanji's room, but when they finally dropped off the three classmates in their seats, their leader had looked confused and questioned the recruits. After nervously explaining, the brunette had smiled and told them not to touch anything before walking out the door, jogging and whistling cheerfully as she went. The class had watched curiously as she left before bursting into discussion and showing each other their new homemade designs on their guns. The next time that the class saw the other group, they looked as exhausted as they normally did, except of course, the brunette who looked like they had been through a storm. Wet and exhausted. The other students explained. The Captain had pulled out a hose. He had seemed to almost enjoy spraying them with harsh water pressure while they ran or cooled down. Or rested. Or anything, really. 'At least they got to cool down' one person sheepishly mentioned. The glares they got were enough to send them cowering.

At dinner, this was all shared and warnings given to the last class of the day. There were a few extreme rumors going around that the Captain had turned to the Prince of Hell, but hey, at least he had turned to glaring down that one particular hallway that lead to the basement instead at them. During dinner, on person said they were going to go see what was so important. Not 20 minutes later, he was walking back in, shaking and pale. He didn't even bother sneaking back in, just walked over to his seat, sat down, and finished eating, wide-eyed and trembling. The Commander, Captain, and Squad Leader hadn't seemed surprised, while all the other leaders had turned a bit pale and looked down without reprimanding the recruit. When asked what had him so freaked out, all he answered was "Don't go into the basement." That sufficiently shut up all questions. When a few students decided to peek in anyway, a guard of two officers stood in front of the door with tight lips and wide eyes. Instead of waiting to be asked, they answered the questions running through their minds.

"Trust us, kids. You do not want to go in there." When they had opened their mouths to argue, the other soldier had turned to them with hard eyes and spoke. "Kid, you think Captain Levi is bad, the thing down there will give you nightmares. If it wanted to, that is." The last part was mumbled so quietly, only the recruit closest to them heard it. Later, they told the rest of the group and they decided not to look. Two hours later, a rumor started going around that a titan had gotten into the castle and they were feeding recruits to it. When Squad Leader had burst onto a group hearing about it, panting, they had quickly explained the rumor to the panting officer, to which she dejectedly walked off from. After that, the rumor was proved false, and unanimously decided that Squad Leader Hanji was decidedly even more insane than currently known. That was the first night that their guns were checked, and three people were found to have tried to sneak their tranquilizer darts away. Other than that though, the night went on as usual. The next day was when things got interesting. It was the middle of breakfast, and it was quickly noticed that once again, Eren wasn't there. That's when the door opened.

They had decided that they hadn't been in enough control to go to breakfast the next morning, and so had stayed in the room, trying to get use to the new smells and people. They had exercised and done tests, per Leader Hanji's request, and learned about expedition formations and chemistry. They had also washed the Captains cravat. That didn't happen until 5 minutes after lunch though. Most of the potent scent had faded then. Eren had thought, dismayed, that they both were becoming strongly and hurriedly addicted to the Captains scent. A bit of excitement in the form of a recruit had happened during lunch, and Ren had had a minor freak out in the form of someone invading their territory. In response, he had way overreacted and taken over, shoving Eren to the back of his mind. Growling, he had stood and ran to the door, slamming against it before the unknown invader could open it. From there he had scratched the door and _barked._ Or at least something close to it. Something much more threatening and anger-filled. The kid had ran right back up the stairs, screaming and trailing the scent of fear.

After Eren had scolded him and mentally punishing him with a headache, another two people had come down the stairs and knocked on the door. They had looked up, alert. Eren had yielded his side to Ren, causing his left eye to dissolve to gold. With Erens warning still ringing in his head, Ren had let out a growled **Come in.** leave his lips. The door had been slowly opened to reveal two officers, eyes wide with fear. When they noticed the still predator by the table, they had froze, taking in the exotic creature in front of them. **Hello.** Ren had greeted, per Erens insistence. When they still lie silent and staring, Ren narrowed his glowing eyes and ordered them.

 **What? Explain yourselves! Are you lost?** In the simple mind of Ren, this seemed a valid question, as they froze like pups in a new place. Or a soldier in front of a much stronger opponent. This made sense to Ren, but hearing the thoughts, caused Eren to mentally face-palm. _Are you lost? Really? Of course they aren't lost!_ Eren shouted at Ren, annoyed, but curious as well. Stuttering, one soldier had explained that the Commander had sent them to guard them from other recruits to prevent them from seeing Eren until he was ready to meet other people. Ren had curled his lip at the name of the Commander, but had listened intently until the officer managed to get out his words. When he did, he had stepped to the soldiers, fast enough that by the time they had blinked, he was in front of them. Opening their eyes, they had stumbled back and plastered themselves to the wall. Smiling assuredly, he had nodded and told them they could leave. Leaving the snarling (Ren's smile hadn't looked like one), beautiful creature behind, they stumbled out the door and ran up the stairs, rigidly watching the hallway until the group of recruits came and they gave their message. They had continued to watch  the hallway until the next guard came to relieve them. Then they had gone down as well to meet the golden-eyed male.

Eren had met them with Ren this time, and it was two girls who had come down. He had let them know he would be leaving the next morning and to please wake him up early if they could. Nodding tightly, they had left and stood guard til morning. From there, they had gone down and knocked on the door. Opening the door, a sleepy, half-naked Ren had opened the door. Eren didn't wake up that early naturally. They had stared at the hot, fit body of a boy in his late teens. Stuttering for a new reason, they had told him they were leaving now so good morning and good bye. He had nodded and closed the door to their faces. Blushing, they had run up the stairs and went to breakfast where they had been endlessly interrogated as to why they were blushing so hard. Ren had forgotten they were there by the time he was dressed and Ren wasn't there to criticize him, so he mostly forgot they had really been there.

At this time, most of the recruits were at breakfast and eating. It was the middle of mealtime when they stopped in front of the mess hall doors and opened them. All conversation stopped as the officers and recruits alike noticed the figure in the door. Strolling in, the beast walked over to Mikasa and Armin, plopping down and smiling at the 104th squad. His mouth glinted with sharp teeth and his eyes glowed green and gold. "Good Morning." Armin leaned around Mikasa to say. **_Good morning._ ** They rasped back, relaxed. Mikasa gave a small smile and turned to a blonde across from her. "I'm sure you've met Annie. She's' my new girlfriend." she announced. Armin blinked in satisfaction and the boy stared at blank-faced recruit. The rest off the room was still silent. The boy's' left eye changed to gold. The rest of the table took a sharp breath in at the action of his eyes changing to a different color at will. **Annie.** Was all Ren said. An acknowledgement. Annie lifted an eyebrow, but just nodded and continued eating. Ren looked away to the rest of the room. Smirking, he observed all the staring eyes. **Hello.** He announced to the entire room.

Most of the room simply blinked before going straight back to their meals, sneaking peaks at the creature in front of them. A few continued to stare until brought into the conversation. Ren still stared at the room at large and took a few subtle sniffs. The table slowly disintegrated into casual conversation. Mikasa handed a tray onto Rens place. "Eat." she told him, gesturing toward the food. Ren looked down, sniffed the food, and promptly scrunched his nose in disgust. **_Sasha._ ** Left eye back in green again. **_You want my food?_ ** He heard a crow of victory as a tan arm shot into the air. "Yes!" Connie trotted over to the end of the table and grabbed the tray from the place where it had sat. "Hey man. Good to see you up and steady." Connie nodded, thoughtfully. **_Thanks._ ** Connie walked back to his seat. Mikasa sighed but said nothing more. A few minutes later, they stand up, eyes somewhere in the distance. **_I'll be outside._ ** Is all he says before walking out the door, most conversation pausing to watch him leave. As soon as he closes the door behind himself, conversation bursts back, all probably based on his new look.

Armin glances sideways to Mikasa. At his questioning gaze, she sighs and nods, standing up with her best friend. She turns to Annie. "See you in class." Annie looks up and gives a small nod, expression not changing. Ignoring the new hushed conversation, her and Armin head in the direction of the door, telling Sasha she can have the rest of their food. They just catch the end of her contented sigh as the door closes behind them.

It had been decided that Eren had been the recruit that the Captain had been talking about. Just because you might change in appearance because you were titan didn't mean you changed like _that._ So, three of the Squads were chosen to run surveillance. The first class for the Jaeger kid was Chemistry. He handled that fine, but for some odd reason, he kept smelling some of the vials before he mixed them together. At one point, while Ms. Hanji had been about to pour a drop of Potassium Chloride into some powdery substance she claimed was just a ground rock, he had took the vial from her. This wasn't too odd, but what was weird about the fact was that he had been on the other side of the room looking down. One blink and he was halfway across the room. Rapidly blinking after that, the surveillance team had watched, shocked, as they saw Eren cross the room to the Squad Leader. She had looked up at the taller boy and pouted. He only sighed and took a small pinch of the stuff and dripped a drop onto it. A little mini explosion happened, mostly just a puff, but enough to tell the class that the amount the scientist had been about to mix wasn't the safest amount.

She continued to pout for a moment while everyone stared before breaking into a grin and turning to the glowing-and now nervous-eyes of her subordinate. She had pulled out a notebook from _somewhere_ and went on to discuss with him, asking several questions that made no sense to the rest of his classmates. _When did you know? Can you smell the rock? Do you know the acidity level in this substance?_ And a weird one; _Did this cause you to push you to your limits?_  The recruits had stared at the two, one slowly backing away and the other reaching behind herself to grab a napkin. Everyone had watched, curious, as the scientist had grasped the white cloth, brought it behind her back, then shoved it forward toward the kid's face. They saw his arm raise and stop the women from dropping the cloth on him and experimentally sniffed it. Confused, the rest of the class observed this, completely lost. Especially when he smiled widely, giving a happy, puppy-like expression, and grabbing the cloth to shove in his face, happily striding back to his seat to listen to the lesson with the cloth shoved into his face.

The rest of the day had continued like that, more or less odd moments like this happening. Well, all but Expedition Formations. In there, the guy gave an almost killing intensity that didn't leave until the next class. Even the teacher had been a bit nervous and took him half way through the lesson to settle down. Then lunch happened. The Observation Group had been changed out twice, and now would be a third change. They followed him in a steady pace as he went to the head table and talked to the commander, the top of his head leveling up to his bushy eyebrows. The Commander had listened with a slightly annoyed air and scrunched forehead before slowly nodding. The beast had smiled-or bared his teeth more like- then disappeared into the kitchen. They had waited awhile for him to come back out, and when he didn't, two curious recruits went through the door. They walked right back out. The doors hadn't even stopped moving by the time they walked back out again, faces pale. Ren didn't even look up from his bloody meat. Near the middle of the lunch, he walked out again, being carefully observed by everyone in the room.

He licked his lips and grinned at the room. His teeth were slightly red. The recruits and half the officers in the room had shuddered and looked away. The other half tensed and grabbed at swords that weren't there. Ren strode to the 104th Squads table and again sat down at the end, telling Sasha she could have his portion. After a short argument about him eating food, he told her he had already eaten. This had left her confused but satisfied, so she had eaten his food. Mikasa had looked at him worriedly while Armin looked curious. Whispering he explained that when he had brought the meat from the trip he and Hanji took, it hadn't all been for the base. They had nodded in understanding while the recruits listening in stared at the male in confusion. Eren took a trip with Ms. Hanji? He brought the meat that they were eating? But, that was a lot of meat. How did he catch it all? Most recruits just forgot about it and were grateful, but some continued to stare at the new version of Eren Jaeger. What was he? Then after lunch happened. Levi had been the first to get up and ordered the recruit stop finish in 10 minutes if they were in his class. Some recruits had swung their gaze over to Eren fast enough to catch the predatory glint in his eye. Those had quickly looked down to their food and didn't look up for the remainder of the meal.

After a couple of recruits had left the dining hall, Eren, his sister, and his best friend had stood up, put their dishes in the bin, and walked out the door, Erens head held high and an excited glow in his two-colored eyes. A few students followed him. Those three always had training with Captain Levi at the same time. Almost always after lunch, too. When the remainder of the students had gone out to the field, they stared as the Captain and Eren stood toe to toe, Levi craning his neck up and Eren looking down. A few recruits wondered if he was suicidal. Still, he continued to smirk down to the Captain. The glaring Captain. The people closest to them could feel the heat of his anger radiating off him. After some whispered, heated words, the taller brunet had backed off and ducked his head. The Captain had smirked smugly, not noticing the curl on the proud mouth, looking at the ground, seeming to bow to the shorter raven. The others who saw it had shivered and looked away.

Looking away from the duct figure, the Captain had ordered the class to run 4 laps. 2 laps in and most of the kids were lagging. Mikasa, Bertholdt, Reiner, Annie, and Eren ran at the front. Well, Eren seemed to be jogging and chatting with Mikasa while she ran an easy pace, nodding her head every once in awhile. When they had lapped Armin, Eren had taken matters into his own arms and picked him up, laying him on his back, and running that way. A lap and a half later, he stopped completely and set down the blond. Nodding, Eren had run off. A few people had managed to pass him in that time, and he easily caught up. Then he passed them. They watched, almost in slow motion, as he picked up the pace to sprint past the next group, grabbing his adopted sisters hand on the way and dragging her faster toward the ending line. She paused to get a breath, but her brother simply looked at her proudly without even a hitch in his breath. The others noticed as they got a closer look that he didn't even have the sheen of sweat on him, his ever glowing tan shining from the sun. A few people sent a weak glare in his general direction before collapsing back to the ground. Levi eyed them in disgust before looking at the smirking Eren and demanding he give him 20 push ups. This went on and on, Levi sometimes forgetting he had other students, as the Captain demanded exercise after exercise from him, trying to wear him out, some thought.

When the class was almost finished was when he finally started showing excursion. The other recruits had forgotten their animosity at the sheer _work_ it took for the Captain to get the males breath to hitch. A sheer amount of tasks undertaken to get that worked up was amazing. When the whistle was finally blown by an officer to switch groups, they were supposed to be  at the next class. The officer had had to be sent by the Commander after he noticed the problem outside on the grounds. The Captain glared at the laughing recruit who walked off with a tired Armin and a small smiled Mikasa.

The bastard had played him! Goaded him on and somehow cheated his way through he exercises. Who cares if that wasn't really possible if he had his eyes on him the whole time, he'd somehow tricked his way through the workout. No one was that un-out of breath after a regimen like that. Levi glared at the recruits running around the field. An entire lesson later and he was still pissed. It hadn't helped that he hadn't looked gross and sweaty like most people after exercises, and that was something he WASN'T GOING TO THINK ABOUT! But damn, the way the sweat had shone on his chest after his shirt had been thrown off, and the messy way his hair had been shoved back from the green and gold eyes....NO! Bad Levi! Think about the boys' bathroom before it's been cleaned, and dirty windows, and a topless Ren cleaning those windows...No! Levi growled in his throat, eyes glaring at a patch of grass as if it had personally offended his mother and decided to stain all the recruits' pants. Dammit! He was going to kill the Fucking brat. The recruits glanced nervously at each other. The Captain had been like this ever since they got there and they were more than a little worried. Krista glanced over at her girlfriend, Ymir. She had a bad feeling about dinner...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, some of the parts where it says Erens name are actually Eren and Ren, but the recruits don't now Ren, so they just think it's Eren acting weirder than usual.


	10. The Dinnerplace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Krista knew that dinner was going to be an interesting affair...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'll be gone for a couple weeks, my schedule got thrown off, so... yeah  
> yay! super long chapter that I did not try to do at all!

No one had classes after dinner, so everyone was excited to get some food and spend time with friends. What happened, though, was more drama than anyone had asked for. It had started simply with the crazy brunette. The last classes were let out and most of them headed straight for the mess hall, laughing with friends. Ren skipped over the 'friend' part and after explaining a little to Mikasa and Armin, went right to the mess hall to talk to the Squad Leader. Mikasa and Armin watched as she studied him a bit before grinning hugely with a gleam in her eyes. The Beast grinned as well before nodding and heading over to his family. Mikasa raised an eyebrow.

"Did you get what you wanted?" They raised two-toned eyes to hers.  ** _Almost. We'll have to see._** His words were confident and he kept glancing at the door, twitching every-once-in-a while when the door swung open. About 10 minutes into this, when most of the recruits and officers where in line for food, he suddenly got really excited, leaning forward and staring at the door with a new intensity. Armin kept glancing between his friend and the door before finally, Levi walked in. He looked pissed as all hell and a glare to match it. He crossed the now collectively nervous room to Hanji where he promptly sat down and started to eat a plate she had set in front of him. Armin noticed a small thumbs up sign from Ms. Hanji to their friend, which they smugly reciprocated. About another 10 minutes into the meal, almost everyone had sat down and Levi had gotten seconds again, to which Hanji started to demand that she get more than that. When she paused to look around though, she noticed there were almost no spots available at her table and grinned. Levi narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her. She stood up and walked over to Moblit, not giving one glance back, and settled onto the other last seat at that table. Levi blinked a couple time before looking from her to the seat she had vacated, to back again. Erwin sat at his other side and narrowed his eyes when he saw someone move from the corner of his eye toward them. Levi looked up, confused as to why Hanji moved. She hadn't wanted 5ths that bad, right?

Someone sat down beside him while he was looking at the brunette who was grinning at him. Stiffening, he slowly turned until he was facing them, eyes hardening until they glared harshly at the newcomer. **_Hello, Ma-Le-Heichou_** The recruit stumbled over his words, an internal struggle to what to call the stone-eyed Captain coming to a decision. He wouldn't be just another one of his subordinates, but his title required some respect. Levi rose an eyebrow, anger lessened with this new title that he knew nothing of.  ** _It means 'Captain'._** he explained shortly, eyes never leaving his self named Heichous' face. Levi nodded, staring at the recruit still not moving from his superiors seat. Most of the other recruits were now surreptitiously watching the two out of the corner of their eyes while simultaneously trying to keep up their conversations. This was a talent that they would develop well over their time here. 

"What are you doing here? Recruits are not allowed at these tables." They grinned and didn't say anything, simply smirking at the Captain in pride. Levi straightened. Fine. If he was going to sit there, it was his own choice. From there to half way through the meal, Levi completely ignored the male sitting next to him and everyone else watched as his expression got darker and darker until they only snuck small peeks because of the stormy look on his face. Then they saw a change. A few shivered. The cunning in his face spelled out certain danger. Smirking, the recruit leaned down and slowly stared to whisper into his Heichou's ears. Stiffening, the Captain continued to ignore him, but, determined, the recruit didn't stop whispering into his ears, allowing nothing to touch him except the breath from his mouth. A few peoples jaws' dropped at the audacity and others now openly stared. There was no way they would miss this, even if they got punished for it. Anyone who was right by the black haired man noticed the slightest tremble start to course from his form, arms pressed tightly to the wood while he continued to try to ignore the gleaming eyes next to him. Slowly, the Captain stopped trembling; for no apparent reason, and instead started to twitch his mouth. The other officers watched in fascination as the Captain continued to ignore the man next to him even as the corners of his mouth quirked a little upward every-once-in-a while before returning to the frown it normally rested in.

Then, for no apparent reason, in the middle of answering some question by another officer, the Captain let out a small 'heh.' The male smiled triumphantly, pausing his commentary, while the rest of the table turned to the short man to stare. Had Captain Levi just  _laughed?_  The Captain blinked a couple times himself before turning to the grinning face beside him and studying the proud gleam in their eyes. He sighed and looked annoyedly at them. "What." Phrased more as a statement than a question. They raised an eyebrow and shrugged, the small smile on their face betraying their true thoughts. Rolling his eyes ( _!?),_ Levi turned away and raised his eyebrows to the rest of the table. Their jaws were on the table and even Eyebrows had the echo of shock plastered across his face.

" _What?"_ he demanded as he noticed their shocked expressions. Most just hurriedly looked awhile after shrugging while the rest still continued to stare in shock at the now frowning Captain. "Do you need something?" he snapped, annoyed once again. They simply shook their heads mutely before looking down at their meal to once again sneak glances up whenever they could get away with it. Sighing, the Captain finished his meal while the male next to him grew more and more distressed all over again. Levi stood up just as the brunette looked like he was going to say something. They looked up at him hopefully. He looked down, secretly proud that he was-for once- taller than someone. Sighing once more, he reached up with one hand and  _patted_ the beast once the head. Several jaws once again fell onto the table. The male looked confused for a moment before a grin split his face to reveal fanged canines. A few people watched him nervously, a few thought he looked adorably close to a puppy dog (people are weird) and a few just looked from the Captain to the boy now trailing behind him like he always has, an adoring look in his eyes as he stared resolutely at the mans back. 

Right before the Captain exited the open doors, he turned to say something, eyes widening for a moment before narrowing and looking past his companion to the recruits. "I expect you done in 10 minutes or extra laps." With that, he spun around and started walking back to the fields, his new partner(if you could call him that) dejectedly following him.He had hoped that the his Heichou would do something or say something to him, but no. He had just _ignored_ him. A few people sighed, once again reminded that not even a nuisance such as Eren looking so different could pause him in his conviction to torture the new batch of recruits. Hanji stared at them as they left, her amused smirk never leaving her face. "This is going to be soooo fun!" Moblit heard her say beneath her breath, brown eyes shining in keen excitement. He let out a nervous burst of air, he already knew that he was going to end up restraining his lover in some way or another in the next week. 

 

Even though he had told the brat to go to his classes several times now, he still just smugly smiled at him and continued to infuriatingly look down at him. In his new state, he had grown at least 5 inches, making him taller than most other recruits and much taller than the Captain who was short to begin with. The recruits were watching the two and were unsure weather they should be thankful the Captain wasn't ordering them around, or afraid that when he finally turned his attention to them, that his temper would turn with his attention and unleash itself upon them all. Said Captain turned to them not 10 seconds later, almost as if he had read their minds. His glare made a few people wilt like flowers under extreme heat. "Did I say you cadets could take a break!" he snarled. "Get up and run a lap with your gear on. Then we're going to work on that sparring training of yours!" The recruits quickly stood up and started running, fear aiding them on their laps. 

Levi turned back to the annoying brat still smiling down at him. His glare deepened, if possible. He ducked down and  _licked_ the Captains cheek. The few people close enough to notice stumbled and fell, rolling in the grass as their muscles froze in shock. The Captain looked almost as surprised. Eyes widening and mouth open just the slightest bit, he reached up to lightly brushed his fingers across the cold, wet spot on his cheek; a breeze ran across it, making it even more obvious. A few more people ran up after their first lap and bent over, hands on their knees. They confusedly observed the shocked Captains face. What had happened? The people who had stumbled were now standing up and staring open mouthed at the smug recruit, who continued to look at the Captain, not even running away. The raven slowly turned his head to look up at the brunette in the eye. His smile turned a little less smug, almost nervous; but not quite.  ** _Heichou?_**  He asked, sounding worried. 'Heichou' raised his arms, curled his arms, and tensed.  _"You."_ His voice was not happy. A gleam shone in his eyes, and the cadets took a physical step back from the withheld emotion they could only guess was rage in his tone.

Levi jumped. Well, that's what the recruits assumed anyway, as one moment he was standing there; all tense and about to attack something, and the next, him and the gold/green eyed boy were rolling in the dirt. Moves happened so fast that half the time they only saw the impact instead of the hit. Oddly, the recruit didn't seem to be having any difficulty blocking his moves. The other recruits could sometimes catch slight chances he could have taken to get the Captain off him, but instead opted for managing to brush his hand against his rolled up sleeves or twirl around him to smile as the shorter man gracefully turned to continue attacking. All the students were now staring slack-jawed at the two, one of the first runners sprinting off to go get an instructor. Somewhere between the runner leaving and a couple more twirls, the cloak wrapped around the shoulders of the two men flew off and left two bodies moving around each other, one moving as though he could almost predict the others moves, and the other furiously seeming to chase the other around and through.

The runner came back with Miss. Petra in tow along with her class, that which Eren was supposed to be in, meaning that his two best friends were with the class. When the entire roomful of recruits got close enough to the fight to see what was going on and  _who_ exactly was fighting, they all stopped and gaped. "Captain Levi!" Petra gasped, amazed and stunned. No one, not even the Commander, could take on the Captain alone. And here was Eren, simply dancing around him, almost seeming to tease the Captain with the close hits the raven almost got on him. Another runner in the new arrivals took off to go find either the Commander or Ms. Hanji. A few minutes after Miss. Ral's class arrived, people, Mikasa and Armin especially, noticed the taller males left green toned eye switch to gold. They caught the excited grin on his face right before everything once again sped up. This time, hardly anyone could tell where the Captain was aiming or where the male avoided. Every once-in-a-while, they would catch the gleam of teeth or white of flesh as the two twirled around each other expertly, the Captain only landing glancing blows. Then Ms. Hanji arrived.

"Hahahaha!" she screeched, surprising almost everyone. The fight continued. Giggling gleefully, she whipped out a notebook and started scribbling down notes. Rolling her eyes, Ymir(who had been feeding the horses and had come to see what all the fuss was about) trotted off to were she had last seen the Commander. Not 10 minutes later, she had managed to bring back a perplexed Commander. At this point, the Captain now had a light sheen of sweat lying on his skin-when anyone could notice a long enough pause to tell-but still continued his fighting, if but slightly slower, moves becoming more discernible as time passed. The recruits watched as even the Commander watched the fight for a little bit, amusement and slight surprise painting his face. He sighed, then strode up closer to the fight. Watching for a moment, the blonde suddenly shot out a hand to grab the offensive fighter on the shoulder. Snarling, Levi turned to him, rage and fatigue skittering across his face. The thickly eyebrowed man grabbed both shoulders of the still snarling man and shook him gently a couple times. The students had made a large ring around the three, not wanting to be attacked for being too close. The teens glanced to and from each face, seeing the different reactions.

The Captains' slowly losing most of his rage to be replaced with calm, the Commanders unwavering calm, and the once calm face of Eren Jaeger(who was actually Ren, but not very many people understood that situation.) twisting more and more as the Blonde continued to hold the Captain by the shoulders. The cadets watched nervously as Ren-as Mikasa, Armin, and the three superiors know him as-grew angrier and angrier. Suddenly, he thrust himself in front of the Commander, causing Levi and Erwin to break contact, eyes only having to glance up slightly now to meet the leaders gaze. His eyes were hard and his mouth in a tight line. Levi folded his arms and stepped back, staring at the angry back impassively. The recruits could read his face easily for once. 'He got himself in this mess, he can get out of it.' flashed across the Captains eyes. "Ren." The Commander acknowledged. A few people glanced around confusedly at the name.  **Blondie.** He answered, sneering. Almost everyone in the clearing renewed their shocked expressions at the daring, making Hanji burst out laughing and Mikasa give a small smile. The Commander stiffened slightly, but his face stayed calm."Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Erwin politely asked, one majestic eyebrow raising. **Aren't you supposed to be doi-** suddenly, he cut off, blinking a few times to reveal one gold eye tainted green and another blazing green eye where previously had been gold.  ** _Sir._** A few people dumbly blinked at the sudden change from arrogant leader to slightly panicked and annoyed recruit.

He turned around, completely ignoring the somewhat confused Commander, and bent down to whisper something into the Captains ear. One hand on his clothed and damp shoulder and eyes half closed, he rasped quietly **_See you tomorrow._** into the mans ear before straightening and giving a little shake. Nodding, the male strode toward the castle, hands clenched and back tall. Only a few people noticed the almost imperceptible shiver of the Captain as he stared at the retreating figure of the tall male. Everyone could tell that things were going to be interesting the next morning. Needless to say, the two classes were dismissed early and the rest told they could leave as soon as they finished any work that needed to be completed. Rumors ran rampart that night and tranq. guns were checked by more than just the officers. 

 

In bed that night, Levi stared at the ceiling. He had a hard time sleeping at the best of times, but he was at least a little drowsy when he finally got into a clean bed and everything was finally quiet, but right now, he felt like someone had stuck cold feet on his bare skin. He was wide awake and no amount of breathing exercises were putting him to sleep. Frustratingly, his thoughts kept cycling again and again to how the brat had so easily avoided his hits during the fight in the training court today. Logically, he knew that he hadn't dodged as easily as he had led people to believe, and he knew that he hadn't even been fighting at full strength, but the fact that he still hadn't got a proper hit in ground on his nerves. Almost any person he had sparred with had folded once he hit that second notch, and only a few people could have held him off once he reached his highest fighting level, and most of them were either dead or of unknown whereabouts.

Someone knocked on the door. Narrowing his eyes, Levi reached under his pillow and pulled out a knife and pistol. Sliding out from under the warm covers, Levi pulled on his cloak and opened the door a sliver. "What?" he asked, strapping the knife to his leg and hiding the gun behind himself. It was Hanji. She grinned. Levi narrowed his eyes. She was normally zonked out by now, sometimes sleeping outside or somewhere noisy where pretty much nothing could wake her up. Or with her experiments. One of those. But now here she was, eyes sparkling and hair an even bigger mess than usual. "What do you want, Shitty-Glasses." She gave a quiet giggle."I just had the most genius idea for our little boy." He raised an eyebrow and opened the door a little more, basically inviting her in. she rubbed her hands together and entered, taking off her shoes. 

"Speak." He commanded, getting a few teabags from one of the various shelves in his room and putting it in a pot of previously boiling water that he kept for just this purpose. Sighing, he turned and leaned against the counter, studying Hanji as she pulled out a couple notebooks and started organizing them into a presentation type look. Beaming and humming, she looked up as she fidgeted with a paper. "Now!" she started excitedly,"I've noticed that you and our little titan shifter have clashed. And not in the best way. Oh, by the way, did the formula for the paper work?" He gave a short nod. "Did you put it all in the report to Erwin?" He glared at her. For reasons unknown to him, he had quietly refused anyone else to have that knowledge. He didn't really understand why the simple thought of anyone, especially his little girl friend having that critical(to him) information made him so angry. It made his heart beat harder and that familiar feeling that came with fighting to curl in his arms and legs. 

At his glare, Hanji laughed, waving her hands in a 'calm down' gesture and pull out a  _third_ notebook from somewhere in her cloak, this one more of a pocket book than anything else. Levi absently wondered where she kept all them and still had all the fluidity of a contortionist. Jotting down a couple lines, she turned to Levi once again and smirked, this one one of her more wicked expressions. He raised an eyebrow. This smirk was close to the 'I'm going to blow up the Commanders office in pink smoke' smirks. Don't ask. She cleared her throat. "So. I have noticed that both Eren and Ren seem hugely fascinated with even the slightest brushes of contact that come from you touching his bare skin." Levis eyes narrowed. Where was this going? Her expression deepened into more of a 'I just caught two recruits fucking when their supposed to be cleaning, lets surprise them' smirk. Levi raised a single eyebrow. "I have also noticed that when this happens, his min blanks out a little bit and for a few seconds, he has a one track mind, normally to accomplish a single goal, much like when hes a titan. Normally an order can be given and will be followed immediately, at least for a few seconds, and would be meticulously followed." Levi poured a cup of tea and sat at the table, this was getting interesting.

"I've also noticed he will ignore all other orders until he snaps out of it, and the longer the contact, the longer the trance lasts. I was just wondering how you would like to see our little boy be slowly tortured." Levis expression was slowly moving into the same territory of Hanjis, only a lot more excited(which isn't really saying much, more like his eyes had a special shine). "Of course, though, this will include a bit of sacrifice from your end." She added. For once, Levi was barely listening to the warnings from the insane scientist. He scooted forward in his seat. "What are we going to do?" Levi asked, eyes as close to excited as he could get. Hanjis smirk changed slightly, Levi, in his excitement, missing the 'Got him' look in her mouth. "First off," she started, eyes twinkling," we're _not_ going to tell Erwin." Levi liked the plan better already. 

 

When Ren woke up the next morning, he thought he could almost smell a spike of excitement and nervousness coming from outside the basement. He frowned. Not even when he was full predator mode could he have smelt all the way to the mess hall, and emotions at that. Confused, he chalked it up to someone coming into his room without his knowing, somehow. Pulling on his uniform, he walked up the steps. No guards this morning. He gave a small smile. Then he thought of seeing his Heichou and smiled a little bigger. Then he paused. Wait. What if that emotion he had smelt was him? It'd make sense. Eyes widened at the thought of what could possibly make his Heichou that excited and  _nervous,_ he hurried a little faster toward the mess hall. It was a little later than he should have gotten up, so he was a little late to breakfast. Walking through the propped doors, he quickly scanned the room until he noticed the Captain calmly eating his oatmeal, completely at odds with his scent. He carefully studied him and the room. Nothing was different. The room had quieted a little when he had walked in, but that was all. He confusedly walked over to Mikasa and Armin, leaning down. 

 **Has there been an** he paused, then his left eye switched to green,  ** _announcement?_** His adopted sister and friend looked at him, questioning. He waved a hand in the general direction of his Heichou. He wasn't his mate yet, apparently. He had to accept him first.  _ **Heichou is being...**_ he sniffed the air. More nervous this time. Wait. His scent was still nervous, but more of a spicy tinge to it, making it almost feel like a small part of the Captain was craving something. He gave a hard look in his direction. What was going on? "Uh, Eren?" Armin asked. He waved a hand at him absentmindedly. What was wrong with his Heichou? He stalked past him to the kitchen to eat. Ms. Hanji said it would make others nervous to see what and how he ate. She says it would make them be afraid of him. They wouldn't like him. She says he looks like an animal. Eren agreed with this assessment. Ren frowned inside their head, reflecting on their physical body. Spying the pile of red meat, though, wiped most of that from his mind. Eren closed his eyes to the outside world as the bleeding meat came into view. He wasn't blood-sick, but seeing that... He shivered. That also reflected into reality. Give and Take. That's how they worked together now.

Ren ignored him as both his eyes switched to gold. He licked his lips. One of the recruits walked in. The fresh meat smell overwhelming his nose and with his eyes closed, enjoying the taste, he didn't notice. The poor kid stared, watching the titan shifter in the middle of a pile of red, closing his eyes and almost moaning at the taste of the food. Opening and closing his mouth, the recruit stood frozen. Ren opened his eyes. He licked his lips, tongue reaching a spot of blood on the tip of his nose, and he curiously watched as the cadet watched horrified, a pot of potatoes in his hands. He stuffed a bit more food in his mouth, still watching the other boy. He glanced down thoughtfully, narrowing his eyebrows. Suddenly, he looked up and, grabbing a handful of meat and ripping it off a bone, offered it expectantly to the kitchen aid. Then he smiled. 

Mylius's vision looked a little different. The creature bared its teeth at him, fingers dripping blood from the meat in his hands, that same blood staining the carnivores teeth, sharp and pointy, unnatural, and in his eyes, completely inhuman. Gasping for air, he dropped the pot and backed away until his back hit the wall. Ren looked at the boy worriedly. He didn't think normal humans breathed like that. Eren moved his hands from his face and opened the lids to his eyes. Who was breathing so hard? Why were they breathing so hard? He could still hear the outside world and something didn't seem right...

  _OH MY GOD!!!_ he screeched, hurting Rens ears even though it wasn't said outloud and in the real world. Eren had opened his eyes to the real world to see Ren curiously poke the trembling boy after having gotten blood all over him, having tried to give the meat to the trembling human in front of him. Oddly, he wasn't accepting his thoughtful gift. Rens eyes turned inward. Eren was running around their dreamscape, not physically doing anything in his panic. Ren watched curiously. What was mind-twin trying to do? What was the problem?  _You IDIOT!_ Eren shouted, taking control immediately. 

"I am sososo sorry!" The wide eyed and shaking recruit opened his eyes impossibly further at the completely human sounding voice coming out of such an _un_ human face. Eren had taken almost full control, only glints of gold showing Ren was still aware. The recruit did not know this. The previously animalistic creature from before had now been replaced by a human-like boy. Just like himself. Eren registered the taste of blood in his mouth. To his disgust, it didn't taste gross. It was actually quite pleasant. He gagged all the same. "Ummm..." He started. Mylius stared. He had stopped shaking. "Stay right there." Hurriedly standing up, he then fell back on his face, he was unused to the speed and agility of being fully in control of this new body. He had changed so much. He told himself to worry about it later and looked around for a cloth. Sighing, he carefully stood up again and immediately caught the welcome sight of a dry cloth. Ignoring the smooth way he walked, he crossed the room and grabbed it, wiping off his face and heading for the back door back to the mess hall. Captain was not going to be pleased. He grimaced. Opening the door, he quickly strode over to that table. A few people looked up in surprise and stared.

They had grown used to his eyes being gold or multicolored, seeing them both as a bright green came across as strange. And then they noticed the blood that had dribbled onto his shirt. It wasn't very much, but it was enough to be noticeable. He reached the 104th table. Mikasa and Armin stopped eating. It was _Eren_. _Just_ Eren. And he had blood on his shirt. Quietly whispering about the issue ion the kitchen, they simultaneously sighed and both stood up, again simultaneous. They both waled back to the kitchen, a worried looking Eren leading them. A bell sounded for breakfast to be over. The entire room had noticed Eren by the time he had gotten to the table, so the sudden noise startled them all. They shrugged and went back to talking. They had 10 minutes. 

Hanji smirked at the pouting Captain. Anyone who would have happened to look at him would be able to tell quite clearly, and quite shockingly, that the Captain was truly and honestly  _pouting._ Hanji stifled a laugh at the poked out lower lip and folded arms, looking all the world a petulant child. He was not happy. He had been going to tease the annoying brat who had annoyed him so much yesterday and kept introducing new emotions he hadn't had to previously worried about. It was all his fault! His arms tightened against each other before an expression of realization hit him. Hanji noticed a new smirk slowly dawning on the previously sulky face. And this smirk was downright  _evil._ Oh boy. She had better stay with him all day to make sure he didn't do something stupid. At least that was the excuse she thought of to observe her new experiment.

After explaining a little bit of what had been going on, the recruit; who's name they learned was Mylius, had shakily stood up and stammered an apology. Eren had given his own apology before Ren had demanded to be let into the front again, where Mylius had once again froze up when he noticed that the beast was back. Ren had also apologized where Mylius had stammered a "That's okay" before keeling over backwards and fainting dead on the floor. Ren, unconcerned, had shrugged and left his two friend-mates to deal with the mess, Eren sighing and agreeing that would probably be best. So off they went, seeing if they could catch their Heichou before he left. Unfortunately, he had gone already to set up for the class of recruits. Eren had insisted on getting a new shirt on account of the blood, so off they went, grabbing and putting on a new shirt. When they had lifted it off the desk(he didn't have any clean clothes, and his nightshirt was the best they were gonna get) they had happily discovered the cravat that Ms. Hanji had thrown at them a couple days ago in her classroom. 

His smell was still lingering and they had both happily reached for it, Eren more subconsciously, and shoved it up to their nose, breathing in deeply and a cloud drifted over his eyes, fogging their vision and leaving him half lidded. They sighed happily and went off to class, wandering leisurely down the hall to his first class. 

When he finally reached the room, everyone looked up to see a dopey animal walking into their classroom in the form of Eren. They stared at him, some wandering what was wrong and the others wondering what would have to smell so nice that you turn into a walking puddle of goo. Ignoring the rest of the room, the two in one male walked, or rather flowed, to the spot his two friends had saved for him. Dissolving onto his chair, they sat and continued to smell the cloth, completely oblivious to the rest of the world. At one point, the teacher who was substituting for Ms.Hanji had asked the still mostly oblivious boy to answer a question about which mixture of chemicals would be best used if he were to come in contact with a titan. He blinked blearily at her for a moment before shrugging and once more closing his eyes. Her eyes narrowed. She didn't care if he was the big bad wolf, this was her classroom and he was going to respect it, goddammit!

  
With that thought, she puffed up her mostly flat chest, straightened and tensed her arms and marched over to the aloof recruit. He cracked open an eye at her arrival. She repeated the question. "What compound of chemicals would be beat used when coming in contact with a 5 meter titan!" He blinked at her. He guessed she wouldn't leave him alone wit his heichou's cravat until he gave at least some kind of answer. He took a deep sniff of the cloth before answering, the fog on his eyes misting a bit more. He slurred through his sentence, not even trying to sound understandable. **_Heechood ta car o ii_**. (Heichou would take care of it) Mikasa could barely even get what he was saying. The teacher stared at him for a moment before grasping the corner of the cloth between the tips of her thumb and index finger before simply yanking it away from him. His eyes cleared almost completely as soon as the cloth left his fingers.

  
He looked at her. He did not look happy. She gulped a quick swallow looking into those eyes, but still held e cloth away from him, not even his reach long enough to get it back without taking a step. And she was blocking him. "Now." She started shakily, but firmly. "First, you're going to answer me properly, then you are going to ask politely to have you, um, rag back" his eyes narrowed at the dirty word," and only when you promise me that you'll pay attention in class for the rest of your time here will you get it back. Am I clear?" Her voice grew stronger as she continued, allowing her words to hit harder. He blinked with a little more clarity, studying the much shorter figure in front of him. Although she had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes, meet his eyes she did, not even flinching at the not-humanness she saw there. He looked straight in her eyes and gave her the answer she was asking for.

  
_**Two substance's usually used together to cause maximum damage to a Class 5 titan would be g,l,m mixed together for approximately 20 seconds before thrown in a breakable container, preferably onside the mouth, at the eye, or as close to the nape as possible. Immediately after release of said mixture, cover the face to keep any explosion debris from hunting the internal organs.**_ Everyone stared as he paused a moment, thinking about his next words and glancing up from his teachers eyes. He hadn't blinked the entire time he had talked. That's not what the others were thinking about though. Even Armin and Mikasa watched the taller cadet with wide eyes. That was the most he had ever spoken at o e time, maybe at all since he got here. His voice had started out raspy and rough, unused to being, well, used. The voice had then started to slowly move into a smoother gait, evening out into a smooth and deep tone, causing goosebumps to appear on everyone's arms. Male and female alike. The teacher, being on the receiving end of that power, stood blinking. Slightly mind blown, trying to scramble for her thoughts. She swayed a bit before catching herself on a deal with a hand. She looked back up.

  
They were watching her, concerned, wondering if he had overdone it. He didn't know that even his voice could have such an effect on people. He reached out a hand and steadied the short women on the shoulder. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, glancing from his hand to his face. He opened his mouth. _**Are you alright?**_   Flowed out of it. Her eyes opened a little more. Blinking a couple times, she shook her head to clear it and took a step back. "Fine, just fine." She told him, waving a hand. She was still a little lightheaded, but her voice came out surprisingly stead, if a bit light. He nodded once, satisfied. _**There.**_ His words once again left him in a melody of sound, almost surprising even himself.

  
_**If you are satisfied with my response, I would like that you gave me my cloth back.**_ She nodded after a moment still a little overwhelmed with the sudden influx of sound. Bringing her hand back forward, she forced herself to take a step forward, bringing her body closer to his. Once again, she has to lean her head back to meet his eyes. This time though, the gaze is politer, less challenging and letting her see the respect he knows deems her worthy of. She hands him the cloth, still rightly pinched between thumb and index. "Now," she starts. Its shaky, so she starts again. "Now," clearer;"you keep that put away for the rest of class or I'll be forced to confiscate it to the Commander." His gaze darkens a little at the mention of the blonde leader, but he still nods respectfully and opens his hand for the neck scarf to drop into.

  
As soon as the cotton hits his hand, he seems to let out a breath in relief, making the two friends behind him do the same. He nods once more towards the teacher before turning around and sitting in his chair, now making him just a bit shorter than her. She gives a small smile and a type of relaxing nod to her student before walking back to the front of the room to continue the discussion. When class is almost through, she allows them to talk amongst themselves, knowing she'll probably be better liked for it and smiling at her own manipulativeness. She glances to the recruit who had challenged her and catches his toothy grin. Instead of flinching away with fear-scent as nearly everyone else did, she smiled back at him, allowing the cadet to catch the lines of a scar extending from her lip where it looked like she had had a deformity as a child. A severe cleft lip and palate, along with places where a lips would split over and over.He responded by sticking out a tongue and wiggling it a little, making her giggle with the weird way it wriggled, the length thinner and longer than any other human tongue.

  
Later, she would realize he saw her scars and did not give her the pitying looks she would normally receive, or the wondering or disgusted expressions that would play at the edges of faces. Instead, he had simply stuck his tongue out at her, making her laugh. But for now, they were still in a classroom, and the clock that had somehow been programmed to explode when their time was up, gave a miniature boom and blew up, leaving a smoking pile of trash that the first person out the door was required to put out with a ladle of water from the bucket by the door. Nodding once again toward the teacher, the boy left with the raven and the blonde, listening to the shorter one chatter and scenting the girls' emotions as they went.

  
He had tucked the cloth in one of the belts at his shoulder, allowing him to relax and give closed mouth smiles to no one I particular. For the rest of the day he behaved himself, sometimes stopping to chat with the teacher from this morning whenever he caught sight of her, Mikasa and Armin patiently waiting for him to finish. Half way through the class before lunch was when he finally got to being overly-excited. He had realized that he would be seeing the Captain in less than 10 minutes, and that fact would not stop racing through his head. As the class drew closer and closer to its end, Mikasa and Armin watched as their friend slowly lost his mind.

  
First it had started with small twitches, nearly unnoticeable, but distracting, then had come the hopping and tapping. Needing to have his hands and feet in motion, Eren had decided to tap his hands on his desk and bounce his feet. It was really kind of odd. Erens naturally instinct when he got close to something he wanted was to fidget, or shake, or do something at had the signs of an impatient person. Ren, on the other hand, was the opposite. When Ren was close to getting something he wanted, all motion stopped. His breathing slowed down and everything he was near seemed to still all motion. Nothing moved, nothing really wanted to move, and it made your vision almost shake from the need to see something, anything, give a twitch or sudden indication that what you are looking at is indeed alive. For this particular recruit, it seemed that the physical body was trying to mediate between the two internal minds.

  
For a few seconds Eren would twitch and fidget, green eye glowing a little brighter and making other people move and shake as though to throw tension off them; then Ren would come for a few seconds as well, completely still and blank, only the ever slight rise and fall of his chest, the glow from the green dulling out to allow the gold to cast its own luminescence. Then it was back again. The teacher ignored it and continued to do as he was instructed, teach, and went on with his merry way. After awhile, almost to the end of class, the twitching and stillness had progressed in alternating time, coming a few seconds after the other. This resulted in the physical body basically vibrating in his seat, legs bouncing and stilling, his hands clenched onto those legs also, changing at the same frequency as his legs. A few seconds from when they would be released, Ren finally took over. And he stilled completely. The professor looked out the window. Smoke signals were recently being tried out for class changes and now a yellow flare exploded out. The teacher looked back to the class.

"Alright, you may-" a breeze rolled through the room and the door drifted shut. Everyone but Mikasa and Armin looked around in surprise. Eren was gone. The instructor, still slightly confused, dismissed the rest of the class. Mikasa and Armin got up with the rest of the class and hurried to the mess hall. "Ren was sure excited to get to lunch today." Armin mumbled to Mikasa. She nodded her head, her eyes thinking. He had told them that they shouldn't wait for him and that he had planned to sit with Heichou again. When Mikasa had pushed him, as he looked slightly worried, he had replied with  **Heichou is nervous today. I do not know why.** The not knowing seemed to be the worst of it. She also highly doubted that the Captain was nervous. Maybe something close to, such as restless perhaps, but not nervous. She also smiled a bit at the fact that just because his 'heichou' as he called the Captain, was maybe a bit restless was not the only reason he had wanted to meet with him soon as possible. He hadn't properly talked or looked at the Captain today. He both wanted to make sure he was okay(she was sure he was) and that he got his daily dose of Levi. He needed at least an hour to stay healthy. She smiled to herself at the thought. Armin read the smile and let his own mouth stretch a bit in mirth.

Ren sprinted down the hall.  **HeichouHeichouHeichouHeichou**. His thoughts blended into one mix of words, tangling together and preventing any other thought from entering other than  _Get to Heichou._ He skidded to a stop in front of the mess hall doors. Only a few recruits and officers were there. Ren was still in charge, so he took a couple breaths with Eren, who watched nervously from inside his head, and composed himself. Walking calmly into the large room, he looked around. His Heichou wasn't here yet.  _Of course he wouldn't be._ Eren gently chided. He wasn't near as worried about the Captain. He knew he could take care of himself.  _He always runs the recruits under his care a bit ragged. He'll also stay behind for a little bit to clean up before he eats. That's just Heichou._ Eren shrugged.  **That doesn't mean I have to like it.** he growled beneath his breath. His voice had lost some of it's musicality after he had stopped using it again, but it still retained the smooth quality it had taken on. Because he was one of the first people here, he figured he could eat before the Captain got here. Walking into the kitchen, he spotted Mylius working over the same pot he had had this morning.Smiling, Ren walked over.

At the sight of feet, Mylius glanced up. His breath caught and he started trembling a little bit, but swallowed and brought it underneath control. He would not freak out again because of some misunderstanding! Smiling weakly, Mylius answered the questioning gaze. "Hey Ren." He had been let in on the secret of the eyes. He figured he would keep quiet for now, even though the blonde, who's name had turned out to be Armin, had insisted that it wasn't really a secret, just an unknown fact. "Just peeling potatoes." He lifted the one he was peeling up to the brunette for him to sniff. He did and wrinkled his nose. Surprised at the gesture, Mylius laughed and continued peeling the potato with a genuine smile this time. Ren watched curiously for a moment before speaking.  **Help?** Mylius startled at his voice, quickly glancing up again. _His voice has changed._ He noted. _Smoother, softer, deeper._ He suddenly realized he had been staring at the male for a while now and coughed, embarrassed. Waving with a hand, he nodded his head and Ren sat crossleggedly in the floor. Grabbing a knife from somewhere beside him, Ren started to copy Mylius, starting out choppy, but quickly adapting after the second potato, Mylius fixing his first two to make them more edible. 

He chuckled under his breath at the first attempts at peeling the brown vegetables. The other male didn't seem very intimidating when he was scrunching up his nose on that cute way...Whoa! Mylius's eyes widened. What was that?! Cute, nope, not him! Definitely not at all! Ren glanced up at Mylius. He looked upset and confused and was an angry red color. Curious, he reached out and touched a fingertip to the boys cheek .  _ **Hot.**_ He thought, surprised. Eren turned away, laughing inside their head. he knew that this body was both of theirs and they might get some weird stares after awhile, but this was just to funny. Ren didn't know what blushing was. And it was cracking Eren up. Mylius jerked up and away from Rens touch.  **Are you alright? Your skin is very red.** Ren watched as the red skin spread from just the boys face past his collarbones and down his chest. He watched the blemish spread, curious. Being watched didn't seem to be affecting Mylius very well. The red just kept going farther and farther, eventually getting redder and redder. Ren touched his cheek again. It almost burned him. Ren watched in wonder and wondered if the boy, who's name he had learned was Mylius, was trying to make his head overheat and explode.

Mylius was freaking out. The second time Ren had touched his cheek, he had froze. When the golden-eyed male had asked him if he was okay and continued to  _watch_ him like that... He stood up quickly. Ren looked surprised. "I, er, need to um, yeah." And off he went, stumbling away. Ren watched him leave, confused. Eren was having a hard time breathing.  _You!_ He gasped inside his head as they watched the suddenly clumsy boy leave.  _You are so completely oblivious sometimes!_ And he collapsed back into a fit of giggles, holding his stomach as he fell over again. Rens stomach got echos of pain from the lack of air reaching Erens lungs, but a strange sense of glee had also filled his mind, making him smile. Ignoring the other boy for a moment, he stood up and went over to a pile of meat that had been left on the counter. Shrugging, he grabbed a handful and ate it as he walked around, seeing some kitchen aids pass by who were much more worried about getting enough food to the soldiers than if someone was walking around eating raw meat. 

Finishing the food, he walked back to the door that led to the mess hall from the kitchen and cleaned his hand with a damp cloth before exiting the bustling kitchen. His worry from before had slowly leaked back while he had walked around teh kitchen, so he quickly looked for the Captain before anything else. Not realizing it, he had spent half the lunch period in the kitchen. Mikasa and Armin were glancing around every-once-in-a -while, confused, but their expressions quickly cleared when they noticed him at the kitchen door. Silently communicating that they would talk later, they nodded him and went back to eating in peace. He looked back at his Heichou. For some odd reason, he looked vaguely disappointed. Smiling at the thought that it may have been because they hadn't talked all day, he eagerly set forward, quickly reaching the table. Levi had been facing away from him when he had walked toward him, so he hadn't noticed him approach. Ren sat down.  **Hello Heichou.**

Levi had worried that the brat wouldn't show up, and then his and Hanjis planning would have been wasted. That could not happen! So he had talked to the Commander on his other side, leaving the seat on the left of him open, waiting to see if the cadet brat still had the same nerve to sit at the officers table as he had the day before. But, as time went on, the brat hadn't even entered the room, not coming in with bitch-face or mushroom-head, not entering through the doors or suddenly appearing for almost half the time that lunch took place. He had even been early for once, hoping to get there before the Kid. Then he had heard a voice sound. A voice almost deeper than Eyebrows and smoother than any other voice he had heard before. And no longer sounding like a brat. Levi spun around, coming face to face with Ren himself. Their noses were almost brushing. Ren smiled. _ **Hello Heichou.**_ he murmured again, almost purring. And even though his eye hadn't turned back to green, he knew that Eren had also spoke, making that voice that had suddenly become melodic in that short time he hadn't seen him all that much more better. But he still jerked back.  _Tooclosetooclosetooclose._ A voice chanted inside his head. Ren looked faintly upset.

In return, Levi immediately reached up to pat the kids head, making him open his eyes a bit more in surprise and confusion, but that lasted less than a second before he was slumping a little to let him have better reach and he was almost f _ucking purring_ at him, so he lifted his hand. Ren opened his eyes. The left was green now, both hazy, as though they couldn't get a good grip on what was in front of him. His purr had quieted down a little , but it was still there, slowly petering out. _Time to test that theory._ Levi thought. He braced himself for disappointment and, carefully choosing his words, spoke to the beast in front of him. "Eren, would you please go get me a glass of water from the kitchen, Ren?" He asked it softly, speaking only to the two in one body. The kid gave no indication he had heard except to gracefully flow off from the seat, and go toward the kitchen taking measured steps away from him, almost gliding to the door. Levi watched it all, head cocked to the side. He wondered of the brat would snap out of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha! Evil cliffy!


	11. The Teacher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apparently, Hanji was right. And Levi finds that he is having a hard time ignoring annoying feelings in his stomach when he gets to touch his beast. But its only because he has all that power to command. That's all! He swears!  
> Liar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I get to be at my dads house for a little longer than usual, so you get an extra chapter! Yay!

Ren and Eren weren't completely sure how they had gotten here. One minute he had been about to whisper in Heichou's ear, and the next, he was standing in a sparkling room. Literally. It was  _sparkling_. The sun shone through the window, showing the slightly shiny stones that looked like they'd somehow been polished and the walls were smooth instead of rough. The air barely even had dust motes. The two looked around. Had Heichou gone crazy with his cleaning? Blinking, he left the room. When he reached the other side of the door after opening it, it looked so dirty compared to the inside of the room. The hallway seemed to be obscenely grimy, and he kept looking around bewildered. Something kept tugging in his stomach. Still thoroughly confused, he walked toward where the tugging feeling was coming from. His wide eyes captured everything around him, seeing almost random spots where everything was clean and nicely organized. Where was everybody? Ren and Eren slowly noticed the slight ache in their feet, knees and hands. He was also oddly tired. Exhausted, really.

He looked out a window. It looked to be mid-afternoon. Hadn't lunch already passed? He kept walking. He slowly realized that he was heading to the mess hall. He picked up his pace a bit, little by little, until he was running through the halls. Eventually, he reached the closed doors of the mess hall. He listened, understanding starting to dawn on him. Anxious now, he quickly swung open the door. A few people stopped eating to turn to the door. Both Ren and Eren looked around, mystified. A lot of people were sitting in different spots then he remembered when he had last been in here. He looked over to Mikasa and Armin. They seemed relieved at his confused expression. He sighed. This was really annoying. What the hell was going on? He quickly strode toward them, determined. That tugging still persisted, but he ignored it for now. He reached his two friends, who were now standing.  _ **What is going on?**_ he rasped. He blinked, closing his mouth and bringing a hand to his throat. He normally rasped when he talked, but this was more than a bit rough. It sounded like he had been screaming. And it had hurt. Not a lot, but still. Armin and Mikasa winced.

Eyes wide he tried again.  _ **What-**_ his voice cut out. Blinking rapidly, he tried to talk. Air and a sort of hum was all that came out. he looked at his two friends with panic. What was wrong with him?! They looked at him concernedly. He grabbed their hands and went to exit the room. The tugging in his stomach intensified until it was  _pulling_ him across the floor, causing him to let go of his sisters' and friends' hands. He tried to stop, only to have his feet slide out from underneath him and cause him to fall. Panting, he stood up shakily. He looked toward the direction the pulling was coming from. As soon as he had headed in the direction that the tug had come from, the pain had lessened into a slight ache. Several people were staring at him. He was never this clumsy. The officers table. Ms. Hanji and the big Blondie were staring at him. His gaze shifted. Slowly, through a haze that had come over his vision, he recognized the Captain. The bags beneath his eyes were darker than usual and he was almost slumped over the table, tired. Instantly, he was more worried about his Heichou than the pain he felt. He hurried to him.  _ **Hei-**_ was all that came out when he reached him, only sheer force of will allowing the first syllable to pass his lips. He winced as the words scraped past his throat. 

 

Levi looked at the exhausted recruit. _2 days_. That's how long it had lasted. He had ordered him to get him a drink of water, wondering if the trance that Hanji had said would happen would wear off before he got back. To his surprise, they had come back, and then just stood there. Curious, Hanji had tried to tell the cadet to do something. He had looked at her, but mostly ignored the order. His eyes had been intelligent, but mostly blank. Almost empty like. Eyebrows had watched him also, wondering if the boy was even conscious. Looking at him questionably, Levi stared. Then his eyes got a certain gleam. The boy had continued to stare at the Captain, looking him full in the eyes. Levi stood. Quietly, he walked toward the doors. The male followed, virtually silent on the stone floor. The shorter man had glanced behind himself, a small smile crossing his mouth. More of a smirk really. Coming to a room that had yet to be cleaned(and disgusting as hell in Levis opinion), he pointed to the inside and tried to give clear instructions.

"I want you to clean this room until not a speck of dust is left and its sparkling." His smirk widened a little more. Maybe he would be better at his cleaning than usual in this state. The cadet had taken one look, walked in, and slowly walked around the room, seeming to observe the dirt and muck spread throughout the room. Giving no indication that he was going to listen to the Captain, he turned out of the room and headed down the hall. Raising an eyebrow, Levi walked slightly behind him as he walked through the halls, hands clasped behind him. Levi realized halfway there that they were heading toward the supply closet. Reaching it, he reached inside and pulled out various supplies, some of which he had no idea why the other would be grabbing if he were going to clean a room. His arms impossibly full, he headed back to the room they had first been at. Once again reaching it, he walked inside and started mixing some cleaning products. 

Levi watched for a few minutes, confused as to why he would mix products that clearly didn't do anything when mixed. Shaking his head, he walked out. Might as well see how the room ended up looking when he was done playing around with cleaners. He'd probably snap out of it soon anyway. Walking off, he went back to the mess hall to finish eating. When he reached his seat, Hanji walked over to him raising an eyebrow. Levi looked at her for a moment without speaking before looking back at his food and taking a cold bite. A few minutes later, he was standing up with an empty plate and walking toward the dish bin. He looked back just in time to see the mess hall door closing behind the brats blonde friend. Shaking his head, he walked in that direction as well, turning around;as usual, to tell the recruits in his class to be there in 10 minutes or they were going to be punished. Hearing the usual quiet groan, he nodded, satisfied, and walked out to the training grounds. As he unfortunately knew would happen, Hanji quickly caught up to him and started talking.

"So! what happened with our little beasty-boy! Did he snap out of it? What's he doing? Does he remember what happened?" and on she went. Levi stayed silent, waiting for her to shut up. He wouldn't get a word edgewise until she did. They were at the grounds and preparing for the new class by the time she took a breath that was longer than 5 seconds long. He took his chance. "I don't know about now, but when I left him to clean a room, he was still in his trance thing." Hanji paused, her finger in the air. "Hm." Was all she responded. Looking back toward the base, she narrowed her eyes and furrowed her forehead. Then her face cleared. Pulling out a notebook, she manically turned to Levi with a gigantic grin in her face. "Well then! I'll come see you when he snaps out of it. Ciao!" He shook his head as she dashed off. She was always coming up with weird words. She hadn't even asked which room he had left the brat in. It was dinner time when he failed to catch sight of the annoying brat, his two friends, or the annoying shitty-glasses when a slightly painful feeling rose in his chest. But it wasn't worry, he insisted to himself. 

But still confused. He walked to the room he had left the brunette in. He rose an eyebrow as he saw his two friends looking agitated and fretful, with a twitching and humming Hanji peering into the room from behind a closed door. "What's going on Shitty-Glasses?" it was more of a demand than a question. She looked at him worriedly. He tilted his head to the side. When was shitty-glasses ever  _worried?_ He looked at her. "Levi." she sounded relieved. What was wrong? " I need you to tell him to stop before he hurts himself." Now he was really confused. The brat hadn't snapped out of it yet? He opened the door all the way. And stared in shock. The male in the room only turned to him.  _ **Not done. Out.**_  He at first didn't seem to register it was Levi in front of him. His eyes still had that empty look.  ** _Oh._** And there was the recognition. His voice was scratchy and slightly more rough than usual. Levi ignored all this as he took in the room. It was sparkling. Literally. The stone used for the walls, ceiling and floor shone like they had been smoothed and polished, the wood that had been put in the room previously was made into a bed, complete with a fluffy mattress and bedding, the wood looked waxed. They didn't even  _have_ wax.  Levi glanced over at the tall male. His left eye was slowly turning gold instead of its instantaneous switch to his animal glow, and Levi guessed it was probably weariness. The human body could only take so much work before it collapsed. So Ren was taking over, not allowing the rest that he needed. Levi felt alarm start to ring in his head. Something felt off here. 

"What in the fuck, brat! Stop! You need to sleep!" The hybrid did stop, but simply stood there, as if he was a robot awaiting instructions. Levi sighed. "Its dinnertime." The other didn't acknowledge that he had spoken. " The room is clean enough, you can go eat." Still, he did not move. Shaking his head, Levi stepped out. Hanji peeked back in. With a relieved look in her eyes, she blew out a breath. "He's been muttering and cleaning the entire time. The only time he had stopped was to get me and these two out of the room. It was like he didn't even know us." the last part came from the ravenette. She had a pained look on her face. He shrugged. Well he's done now. He stopped as soon as I told him to." She looked like she was trying to choose between killing him and thanking him. She settled in giving him a curt nod and headed inside the room. Mushroom head looked between the room and Levi before finally settling on sighing tiredly and heading after his friend. Levi rose an eyebrow. God, he was doing that a lot lately. The world was a confusing place, he didn't understand it at all.

When he reached the mess hall doors, he glanced behind himself and breathed in a quick startled breath. Ren was right behind him again. A chill ran up his back. He hadn't even heard him. Shaking his head, he headed inside. The boy followed. Grabbing a plate, he sat at his seat and started to eat. Ren sat by him silently, staring at his face as he ate. Levi shifted uncomfortably. He normally didn't care if people stared, it was inevitable at some points, but right now, with Ren (and Eren, he could somehow tell, even though neither of his eyes were green) staring at his face, it made him feel like he was being worshiped. He decidedly resolved that he did not enjoy the feeling. Ren didn't move throughout the whole meal except to twitch his eyes whenever Levi left his sight for longer than a couple seconds. 

When he tried to insist he go eat, he looked at him for a short while before standing and heading to the kitchen. Sighing under his breath in a relieved sigh he had not realized he was holding, he went back to eating, noticeably happier to the people around him. Erwin didn't say anything except to raise a majestic eyebrow at the shorter man. Levi scowled, but then his mouth dropped open a little when he looked beyond the Eyebrow man. There was Ren, once again walking toward him. He was carrying a plate. Of red. Most people stopped eating as they saw him cross the room til he once again sat beside the Captain. When he had set down the plate, he turned to the shocked Captain and pushed the plate toward him. The mess of meat was still bleeding. Levi shook his head. Looking confused, the beast turned toward the plate and inspected it, lifting a finger to his mouth for him to chew on the second knuckle. He sniffed it for good measure. There wasn't any problem with it.

Ren looked toward the Captain once more. He glanced at his plate. It was mostly empty. Apparently deciding something, he picked up a chunk of bleeding red and brought it to his mouth. Levi pushed a fork toward his hand. Chewing quietly, the other male looked down to see what touched his hand. He glanced over to how the Captain was holding his own utensil before he picked up the fork and clumsily replicated his own Captains hold. Levi resisted the urge to show him how to properly hold it. Scooping a large chunk of meat with his fork, he moved the meat up, causing most of it to slide off. He took a bite of the meat that was left on it. Suddenly, he shook his head and looked around. His eyes were clearer and more aware.  _ **Wh**_ **at?** That was all he got out before he noticed the red meat and plunged his face into it. Quiet snarling noises were heard after that. The mess hall was completely silent except the quiet scrape of two forks and Rens messy eating. Levi looked around. Of coarse Shitty-glasses didn't care, she had seen this before, but what could the other fork be coming from? 

He spotted a girl with reddish hair stuffing food in her mouth while staring curiously at the tearing vision of Ren. She blinked at the Captain, made a quick salute, then stuffed more food in her mouth while looking around. Levi shook his head. Looking away, he noticed Mushroom heads' and Bitch-faces' shocked gazes. He huffed and turned back to his meal, finishing it quickly. He hurried to the dish bin and dropped his plate in. He saw the beasts red maw lift to stare at him, eyes once again clear. He abruptly stood up and rushed toward his Heichou. As soon as he was within touching distance, he grabbed the Captains bare arm and promptly fell down, letting go of Levi as he went. Worried, he bent down and kicked the brat lightly in the shoulder. He stirred, then stood up. The movement was fluid and smooth. He looked down at the troubled male. His eyes were again blank. Levi sighed. Not again. He continued to the training grounds. The brat never changed his shirt. He ignored the tall brunette and went on. He did whatever was asked of him. He listened to no one else. The only people he had even reacted to other than himself was his two friends, Shitty-goggles, and a teacher that had substituted for Hanji that day. He had actually smiled at her, picking up her hand and patting it before dropping it and his face blanking anew.

Levi had tried to not react, but some fiery feeling in his stomach had caused him to lurch forward and grab the recruits hand, pulling him back into lessons. The entire time he had held his hand, the cadets face had split into a big grin, at odds with his empty eyes. Levi had quickly let go. He didn't know why he had reacted as he had. Later, as he was thinking about it, he decided that he had been very stupid. In retrospect, the touching of the recruit might result in him being in this trance state longer, and Levi was not happy about it. He simply wanted his Ren/Eren back. Once he had caught the thought, though, Levi smashed it completely and immediately. He would not think like that! It would mean that both Shitty glasses and the brat himself were winning. That simply could not be allowed. He continued with his lesson. They were learning how to move in formations. At least, they did in the beginning. Now they were doing physical exercise. Ren always kept the Captain in his sight. Levi could feel his eyes on his body no matter where he was. When class had been dismissed, Ren had followed after him, not ever farther than a few meters. When Levi ordered him to bed, he had blinked and left. Assured that he would head to the basement, he went to bed. Halfway through the night, he had gotten up, still unable to sleep due to his insomnia. 

 When he had walked into the officers room and left with a fresh pot of boiled water, he had been shocked to find the brunette cleaning rooms with the same dimensions of the first, almost as clean as he had the same room as before mentioned. He had, at that moment, happened to be crossing a recruits room and almost have his eyes slide across the propped open door. Frowning, he had opened it more to see a practically silent Ren, cleaning the room around the sleeping cadets. He had watched, surprised, annoyed, and slightly impressed as the awake male waxed, shined, and polished the room until it shone in the weak light of the moon. He imagined that the tenants of the room would wake up to quite a shock. He chuckled a bit until he realized what he was doing and laughing  _at._ He frowned afresh. They were supposed to be in the basement, sleeping, and chained. Snapping quietly, he had motioned the male toward the spot in front of him. Eagerly, he had strode forward, picking up his supplies on the way.

When Levi had told him to go to bed, he had stooped into a pathetic position and actually whimpered. Well, Levi was  _not_ going to allow him into his room, so he simply sighed and let him do what he wanted, instead following him around, watching him. Not like he could sleep anyway. Disgruntled-seeming, Ren had made his way to the mess hall where he had started to clean that. Somewhere around the time he started to work on the corners of the floor, Levi had fallen asleep. He had woken up just before the sun rose over the horizon, looking around to discover he was in his room. Annoyed, he had run out of his room, ignoring the fact that he was in a white cotton shirt and grey rayon pants. They weren't his. He had opened his door to come face-to-vertebrae with a tall males broad and very well defined back. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he had looked up to see an almost surprised look on a tired face. He had blinked as he realized that both eyes were green. The second time in as many days,  _Eren_ was out and about.

  _Heichou._ were the only words that came out. Levis heart plummeted as he realized that the boy had still not snapped out of it. He had switched into a whole different person; although he still looked the same, and he still hadn't switched back. Hanji had come skipping down the hall at that moment, but when she had seen the odd position the two were in, she skidded to a halt, surprised. She had glanced between the two of them until Levi had straightened and coughed, glaring at the crazy brunette. She had shrugged then looked worriedly over to the Captain. He had shook his head. She looked back to Eren. Quietly sighing, he had headed back inside his room to get dressed. For some reason, he didn't throw out the pajamas even though he already had a perfectly fine pair already.

When he and Hanji had headed to the mess hall, Eren trailing not far behind, Hanji had gasped and Levi had stared as they beheld the mess hall. One half of the room, horizontally, was clean. The floor all the way to a spot just above the large French doors of the mess hall. It literally gleamed, the wood tables shone and the floor was polished smooth. Hanji looked around, trying to see everything at once, making her head whip back and forth; her hair hitting her in the face as she went. Levi determinedly strode over to the kitchen door(which had also been waxed), and threw it open. He noticed that everything had been organized, but not cleaned. There was also things cooking already. Levi absently walked through the kitchen. No way were the food staff up already. He turned to catch a heavy-stepping Eren walk into the kitchen and start looking into several pots and pans. He added some spices in a few cooking areas, mixed a few cooking bits of food, and pulled some food out of a bin of ice that had been created to keep food cold. A few minutes later, a burst of food-smell exploded into the kitchen from seemingly everywhere. Hurrying out of the steamy space, he had stepped into the main mess hall. 

Hanji was eating food that had seemingly come out of nowhere, and was still steaming. He sat beside her. His head dropped into his hands, and he rubbed his hand across his eyes. They burned with the exhaustion weighing him down. When the recruits had come in to see the scene, they had looked into the kitchen, confused, until they saw Eren walk out, wiping his hands on a cloth. He eyed the new arrivals. They looked partially terrified, especially after the scene last night, until a recruit who Ren had seemed slightly aware of the night before, pushed forward and asked what was going on. Eyeing him, Eren had gestured toward the kitchen with his chin before saying  _Started it. Fresh meat._ and walking toward the Captain to sit down, staring at his face before getting up again and walking back into the kitchen to emerge not 5 minutes later with a plate of food. The recruits had blinked at him a couple times before hurrying into the kitchen where the two officers heard a cheer. 

Eren had looked at them as they rushed past him and after hearing the cheer, had headed over to the Captain and set the plate in front of him. The senior officer had stared as the recruit pushed a plate of his preferred breakfast foods toward him, as well as a cup of black tea that he had somehow hidden from him. Glancing at the blank-eyed male next to him in wary surprise, he took the plate and the cup and sniffed the liquid. He breathed in, relaxing, as the warm liquid slowly melted any stiff muscles he might have had or sore thoughts toward this entire situation. After breakfast, he had headed out to stretch and train himself a bit before the recruits arrived and Eren had followed him. At one point on his daily run, he had paused to observe a trap he had set up the morning before, and that just happened to be hidden from Erens sight. Eren, who had been looking in a different direction for once on the account that he had heard a creature moving through the bushes(it turned out to be a deer),did not see the Captain disappear into the brush. 

The result was Eren being instantly confused and hurrying away to try and find him. Levi stepped out of the bush just as Erens back disappeared around a corner. He had been unworried and a little relieved that the cadet had finally left, so he didn't worry about telling anyone to tell Eren he was fine. When he was conscious, Eren and Ren both realized that the Captain was not weak or vulnerable, but in the state he was in now, neither realized that the Captain could take care of himself. For the rest of the day, they happened to just miss each other, even at lunch and dinner. Sometime after lunch, Eren had lost it and both Ren and Eren had finally combined for the first time in almost a day to find the Captain. He had started screaming, yelling for his Heichou who had happened to be leading the recruits in his class into formations and had pretty much no chance of hearing his blank screaming. A few officers had eventually locked the hysterical cadet into a room where he had relentlessly banged on the door until a hole broke through. 

After that, he had managed to unlock the door with one of the officers keys he had sneaked from their belt. From there, he had run screaming through the base, yelling and shouting his Heichous' name until he collapsed from exhaustion. It should be noted that even while he was screaming, an odd blankness lay beneath the words, making them sound empty even as the screaming grew louder. About half an hour later, he was awake again and screaming for Heichou. The Captain happened to be in the mess hall where he was being told stories about how a banshee had been screaming his title that the gold and green-eyed recruit had adopted for him. He had raised an eyebrow, unbelieving, until a few minutes later, "Heichou!" was being screeched, sounding like anything that Hells' King himself was chasing some poor soul across the land. The Captain had jerked up in his seat as everyone had turned to the single window that looked out over the training ground in the mess hall. Running to the window, Levi had looked out to see a crazy brunette running around the grounds, still screaming hysterically, his voice cutting out every-once-in-a-while, his words still freakishly empty. 

Cursing, he had hopped onto the window's ledge and jumped out. A few shouts of surprise and anxious worry followed him. The damn brat turned to where all the commotion was coming from, his eyes wide in panic, and caught sight of the falling form that was Levi. A bit of actual worry seemed to enter his face. His Heichou was almost 15 meters off the ground, and as mentioned before, at the moment, the male didn't seem it possible that the Captain could take care of himself. 

Sprinting froward, the two split so Ren was in charge, and reached Levi right as his feet brushed the grass. Levi had been preparing to roll, so when he was caught, he almost fell over. Ren flipped his precious Captain so he was carrying him bridal style, and determinedly marched to the shorter mans room. He had dropped him off and stared at him as he got dressed, eyes never leaving the ravens tense figure. When he had finally laid underneath the covers and stared daggers into the boys once again two-toned eyes, they had nodded, satisfied, and walked out of the room. When Levi went to get off the bed, the door opened again to reveal the boy, staring at Levi until he climbed back into the bed and lie on his back, staring at the ceiling. Levi didn't sleep at all that night. That blank stare kept replaying over and over in his mind. When he got up the next morning, he was still awake. He had gotten dressed and headed over to the mess hall. He was a bit later than usual, so there were a few people already there when he sat at his seat after getting things ready for his class outside. He had no idea where the brat was at this point, and was starting to think that he wasn't ever going to go back to normal. 

He sat and ate a plate of food that Hanji had gotten him, and as soon as he had finished, he proceeded to the training clearing, catching glimpses of the brat through halls and rooms, cleaning or blankly staring, sometimes looking toward the Captain to check on him. Levi didn't have the energy to be mad at him. He did have energy to be annoyed at recruits though. The cadets realized he wasn't as angry today as he would normally be, unfortunately, just very tired and (dare they say it)cranky. They didn't mention this though. When lunch came around, Levi trudged to the mess hall and picked up a plate of food, eating it slowly. Half way through the meal was when it finally happened. Someone had opened the door, Levi hadn't looked up. He could feel his body slump over the table. He heard Eyebrows turn his head to look at the door. Hanji sat across him. No one had taken the kids' seat even though he wasn't there anymore. He heard a low rumble, but ignored it. Then walking sounds, a  _thump_ then quiet. 

The mess hall went silent. Even the forks from Shitty-glasses and the other girl were silent. He lifted his head a little. He turned right as the brats gaze turned to him. A thrum of something like hope entered his body. Could he have finally snapped out of it? A fog seemed to cross his eyes. Levi slumped a bit more again, and then watched as the brats two-colored eyes cleared. _2 days._ He thought again.  _2 days since this dumb idiot didn't first snap out of it after my first order._ The brat was looking at him worriedly, opening and closing his mouth. Levi heard a faint hum-like noise coming from the kids' mouth.  _Well shit._ Levi realized.  _The brat lost his fucking voice._ ** _Hei-_** the kids voice cut out again. He looked like he was about to cry. Levi sighed and stood up. Suddenly, the gold and green eyes of the other male blazed brightly and as he took a step forward-

He hugged the Captain. Everyone froze. Levi blinked a couple times. He had a certain aversion to touch ever since his two special people died, and now, he was almost overloaded with the emotion and  _possession_ of this full-body covering of his figure. Levi was not a tall person, but he was sturdy, and the way the brat had carried him to his room the day before was not even close to the overwhelming emotion running through the brunettes body now. Levi felt his body stiffen as soon as the brats body had touched him. Quiet words coming from his mouth.  _Heichou. Heichou. Heichou. Heichou._ Over and over again. Still stiff, but wanting to relax for some odd reason, Levi patted the recruits shoulder and extracted himself from the capable arms around him. He reluctantly let go. Sighing anew, Levi stepped around the kid and headed toward the door, knowing he would follow. And follow he did. The cadets and officers in the room stared at the exiting couple as they left. Hanji quickly followed. Then so did the two friends of the beast. As soon as the doors closed behind them, the hall exploded into chaos. Erwin looked around himself and gave a 'why me?' sigh. He barely knew where to start. 

 

"-Then you carried the Captain to his room where you stayed until he got dressed and then you cleaned for the rest of the day. You ate once, and never slept. In fact, the two of you switched quite often. I'm pretty sure that one of you mentally slept while the other continued on doing whatever the Captain wanted from you. Because one of his first orders was to clean, that's what you fell back on if he didn't give another order. You didn't know what to do with yourself. Because some place was always dirty, you could always rely on that being available. So, we don't know exactly what triggered the ending of the change or if it just finally wore off, but whatever it is, we don't know how to get the memories back or even if you  _can_." Armin concluded, eyes focused. The two-in-one sat back with a small  _whump_ of air. He didn't know what to say, if he could, that is. Simply put, he wasn't sure what to think. He wasn't sure he even wanted to remember what had occurred while he had been unconscious, in the loosest sense of the word. The male sitting across from the blonde leaned back against the wall, arms crossed. His face was carefully neutral, but inside his head, he was scrabbling to gain equilibrium.

Hanji was looking up and scribbling in her notebook every-once-in-awhile, Mikasa had taken position near him; on his wall, and had consistently touched his arm or shoulder every few minutes. Armin looked to be debating something in the middle of the room, pacing a small stride. But the two paid most of their attention to the Captain. He was blank-faced and had one leg braced against the wall behind him. He was by the door, as though he wanted an open exit in case he needed to escape, and had his arms crossed to mirror the tensed male across from him. He hadn't stopped looking at the exhausted recruit since they entered the room, and he didn't look like he would be looking away anytime soon. The receiver of the staring sighed and looked down. What were they going to do about this? Now everyone definitely knew he was being odder than a simple titan shifter would act. Probably. Hanji really wanted to have more experiment subjects. Levi breathed in deeply, making the boy raise his head to study his Heichou. Levi sighed, breathing out his inhaled air. He dropped his foot and raised his head a little higher, almost pointing his chin at the downcast youth. Everyone turned to him. 

"I don't know what your all planning, but you two," he gestured to the unsure teens looking at him with his chin,"need to go to dinner. You," a unreadable look in the last teens direction," are not leaving my sight. Am I clear?" Mikasa and Armin nodded uncertainty while Hanji almost completely ignored him in favor of scribbling in the worn notebook a little more. Erens eye fizzed out into a dull glow of gold. Ren swayed. He had been awake for almost 2 1/2 days. He could barely stay on his feet. He nodded tiredly anyway. He could just barely feel the warm glow of the thought of Heichou watching him specifically through his fatigue. Casting worried looks behind their shoulders, Mikasa and Armin left the room. Hanji gave one last jot of her pen onto the paper before snapping the notepad closed with a triumphant smirk and a set of twinkling eyes. "Well. She announced."I guess I'll be going now. Levi, make sure you get a report on this, okay? Okie dokie." And with that, off she went, skipping as she left. Levi allowed his gaze to follow her as she departed, his peripheral barely keeping the teen in his sights. 

Levi turned and met the others tired gaze. He nodded, once, toward the way Hanji had gone. "Well, come on. You need to sleep. Lights out." Ren nodded, listening to Eren tiredly explain inside his head. It was only after he had left the room that Levi moved from his spot. When they reached the basement, instead of waiting at the top of the stairs and only checking on him to put on the chains, Levi followed him down the stairs until they reached his room. Opening the cage door almost as big as the room itself, Levi walked inside the room himself before locking it and walking to the desk and inspecting it before grunting, unsatisfied, and sitting on the sturdy chair. He then turned to the confused youth and continued his staring. Ren shuffled nervously for a minute, allowing Erens nervous energy to surface instead of crawling into the Corporals lap like he wanted to. Eren ensured to him that that would  _not_ be a good idea. Levi raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to get dressed?" Eren came up front with Ren, albeit a bit sluggishly. He had to be present for this.

 _ **Heichou, may I bathe** **?**_ Both Erens confidence and Rens pride made it possible to talk with stuttering or seeming unsure. Like he hadn't even needed to ask. Levi gave an understanding nod, realization dawning in his eyes. He always understood the need to be clean. What he didn't know was that the males thoughts had had to scrabble to find an excuse to not feel their Heichous gaze on bare skin. They just did not have the energy to rise to that challenge right now. Grabbing a pair of clothes and some soap, he headed back up the stairs, Levi still not allowing the teen from his gaze long enough to have him walk behind the Captain to the baths. When they reached the showers, the two realized how dirty they really were and eagerly stripped, ignoring the Captain to the lukewarm water. He quickly washed his shaggy hair and set to rubbing the grime off his body with a cloth. It wasn't until he tried twisting around to wash his back that he realized the Captain had been relaxed enough to switch his attention from the cadet to taking a shower of his own. Ren smirked and Eren internally cringed. He did not like where Rens thoughts were going. 

 

Levi had, for some odd reason, been very worried that as soon as he turned his back, the brat would revert to his unconscious state and he would not be able to snap out of it this time. So, he had not let his gaze leave the recruits figure for more than a few moments. When he had asked the kid if he was going to get dressed in the basement, he had ignored the small chill that had run up his back at the thought. He had seen an answering chill tingle up the cadets back which he ignored(for the most part) and was almost surprised when he had instead told him that he would like to be clean first. Slightly disappointed for no reason at all, he had nodded understandingly and watched as Eren had bled into consciousness from his eyes, and grabbed a few articles of clothing and some soap from who-knows-where. The irrational fear that the cadet would revert back to his blank form had still not abated by the time they got to the baths. 

So, he had watched as the kid had decided that he didn't care who was watching and had quickly shucked off all clothing. And Levi had stared. Clearly, his appearance had not been the only thing to change. His muscles and physique had also been dramatically altered. Not that Levi was complaining. Although it was not exactly proper to be attracted to the same sex, almost everyone in the Survey Corps ignored the unspoken rule, probably due to the fact that they could be dead on the next expedition and why waste time worrying about gender when you could die in a few weeks? It hadn't mattered in the Underground either, but Levi tried not to get close to anyone on principle, mostly because half the time he either ended up almost getting himself killed trying to save them, or they died anyway. That didn't necessarily mean he couldn't tell if someone was attractive, he just didn't find himself caring. Shitty-Glasses had surmised that he either wasn't sexually attracted to anyone or thing, or, he found killing things sexually arousing. She had cackled as he rolled his eyes, not worrying how it would look. Levi almost never showed that much emotion. He had told her that it was neither. She hadn't gotten anymore out of him.

Now, however, he realized he did, in fact, have a type. Tall, brown-haired, wiry, and possessive. He suddenly realized he was playing hard-to-get. He also realized that this did not bother him. His attraction to the tan body a few meters in front of him faded a bit as brown-tinged water sluiced off of the cadets body, hair turning a slightly darker color in the water. Levi turned away for the first time since they had reached the room after dinner. He could feel his skin turning clammy in the steam that had been left over from previous recruits showering, the water just warm enough to turn the edges of the window cloudy. Realizing how dirty he was himself, he undressed quickly and headed to another part of the showers where he could still see his ward, but still get clean in peace. He washed his hair first as he had watched the kid do, and set to washing his body. It was when he had started on his arms that he had felt someone start to inspect his short; but powerful, build. Smirking to himself, he continued to wash his body, feeling oddly empowered at the thought of the brat watching him get clean. He started on his legs, bending down to reach his ankles and feet. Over the noise of the shower running, he heard a whimper from a bit to his right and behind him. The brat.

 

Ren was losing it. Eren was gone. When Heichou had held out his arm to wash it, the elegant fingers splayed out, Ren had gave a smirk and started to plan how to get the other male to come to them, crawling, preferably. Then he had bent over, cloth gliding over pale skin... Eren was gone so fast, there was no trace of green in Rens gold eyes. Quickly, Ren had peeked into his mind-space to see an unconscious Eren, nose bleeding, and arms trembling every few seconds. Pulling out, he had opened his eyes to see Heichou almost bent in half, cleaning his toes as meticulously as he cleaned everything else: thoroughly. Rens eyes tracked across porcelain skin, callouses marking where ODM Gear would lie and white scars marking mostly his back and calves. Instead of being worried or horrified, Ren marveled at them, knowing his Heichou wouldn't get scars if it weren't for a very dangerous situation. Right then, it clicked for him. Eren already knew-but didn't acknowledged that Levi wouldn't simply fall for him. He would have to work for it. He would have to work  _hard._ Then, in the end, the victory would be all that much sweeter. Ren didn't question that he would eventually get the Heichou, but he could still feel Erens doubts, knew from Erens memories that this man would not be an easy opponent, but he  _would_ get that man to become his mate. There was no question about it. Nodding firmly to himself, he quickly finished washing up and waited patiently for the Corporal to finish after getting dressed. He had to plan. 

 

Levi had felt the brats gaze for only a few minutes after they had made that small noise, before it had startlingly and abruptly disconnected. Curious as to the sudden disinterest, he had peeked over his shoulder to see a determined looking Ren walking away to his small pile of clothes. His eyes were almost hazy, making Levi unreasonably panic for a moment before he realized that the cadet was simply thinking. Or talking to Eren. Hanji had guessed they could communicate even when one of them wasn't physically present. How she had come to that conclusion, he wasn't sure, but either way, it looked to be a reasonable assumption. Shrugging internally and still slightly confused, Levi finished washing up and reached out to grab a towel to wrap around him. His fingers touched empty air. What? Levi turned to see his towel all the way across the room in a neat pile on a shelf. He stared at it for a bit, water dripping from his hair. He knew he had set the towel on the hook  right next to him, far enough away that water wouldn't touch it and just barely out of his peripheral. Levi gave an annoyed huff. **Ma-** **Heichou?** Rens voice echoed in the bathroom. Levi made a nap decision and sighed.

"Ren, just head back to your room. I'll have someone check on you in a little bit." He thought he heard a relieved sigh, but blamed it on his annoyance.  **Yes M-Heichou.** Levi shook his head. Was this a new word? Meichou? He heard the door to the steamed up room swing to open and close, leaving him in silence. The room was very dim now, only fogged up lanterns making a dim light cast the room in deep shadows. When he finally finished getting dressed and arrived at his room, he paused only a minute before heading down to the basement himself. The kid would likely already be passed clean out. Halfway down the stairs, however, he heard a single clunking noise, a groan, then silence except for his own breathing. One thin eyebrow raised, he steadily continued down the stairs, hair bobbing a bit. He quietly opened the door. A few scattered pieces of paper, pens, notebooks lie littered in front of an upturned desk. He turned to the bed. The cage door was closed and locked, and the long handcuffs attached to the wall led beneath the blankets. The steady rise and fall of breath spread throughout the room. Levis face resetting into his usual bored look was the only obvious way his own version of a shrug was shown. Shaking his head a couple times, Levi quietly backed out of the room. 

The boys opened their eyes and jumped out of bed as quietly as the creaking mattress would allow. Lighting a candle, they hurried back to their desk and turned it upright. They then continued to outline their plan, only stopping and smirking proudly at the scribbled words once the moon had started to go down. The tea lights he had been using was burned half-way away and the flame was getting low in the liquid. Yawning, the boys headed over to the bed and collapsed, readjusting the handcuffs so no one would ask questions. He smiled happily. Tomorrow was going to be interesting. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a bitch to write. Eren kept telling me I was writing it wrong, so I ended up wanting to rewrite entire bits of information only to have Levi yell at him to shut up, so there I was, two people of great determination and stubbornness yelling at me and each other on either side of me. So, I just kinda sneaked it into the story. Personally, I think my account is more truthful than either of their versions. Oh shit, here comes Levi.  
> ( I have no idea how the showers work, so please don't ask. Ciao!)


	12. The Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren and Ren are now even more mixed than they were before and now they have a plan. With Rens confidence and skill in strategy paired with Erens determination and sincerity, there is no way they can fuck this up! Hanji is excited for the drama and Levi is so done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is unbeta'd, but so are most of my chapters. This is just more so. If it looks like it needs any major changes, please contact me. I plan on editing the whole story once I'm done with it, but until then, I;m just going to leave it. Sorry for the long wait.

The next morning, Hanji had gotten dressed immediately after she had first woken up instead of waiting for a breakfast helper to get her up in the middle of the meal. The past few days had been exciting and she kept getting up earlier and earlier, but early for her was still pretty late. She had now dedicated two whole shelves on one of her numerous bookcases inside her personal bedroom to the study of Eren Jaeger. He was certainty an interesting case, who knew what else she would find out? After skipping through her morning routine, she had headed to breakfast, set on getting a further analysis on her subject and to find out the gossip with her special Lee-Lee. 

She paused just before she opened one of the large french doors.' A low rumble could be heard reverberating through the wood and she felt the vibration of sound with her fingertips on the old oak. Was that really the recruits? She swung open the door. A blast of noise hit her in a wave. No one bothered to pause their discussions even as they turned their heads to scrutinize the newcomer. After a few glances everyone pretty much looked away, no longer caring. Hanji walked to the plate of food that a kitchen helper had set out on the higher-ups shelf once she had walked in. As she walked, she managed to glimpse bits of conversation. The topic came with no surprise to her, although some of the thoughts on what was going on made even her want to roll her eyes.

"...o way that's what happened!" "Doesn't it make sense though? Give the titan kid some kinda potion and he obeys every command given!"

"...ind meld with the Captain? Your joking." "No way man! you've noticed it too, haven't you?! The Captains managed to get the Jaeger kid to obey every command!" "Still..."

"...st a titan thing, probably. don't get why everyone's makin' a big deal..."

"...ve tranqs? 'Cause of the kid?" "Duh! Did you see how fast he moved to catch the Captain when he jumped out the window?" 

"That was awesome! Carried 'im bridal style straight to his room. Woon' let him leave the room. The Captain tried to get off the bed and he  _growled_ at him!" No!" "I'm serious! Saw it with my ow..."

She had to admit that the recruits were very adapt at getting information. maybe she would hire a few informants in one of the groups to get her to tell her the more interesting details. She had grabbed her plate and reached the table by the time this thought had entered her head, allowing Erwin a good peek at her face as she thought. "No." Hanji didn't even try to pretend. "But Erwinnnn!" She whined. "No. " He repeated firmly. Hanji pouted, folding her arms before bouncing back to her cheerful self and unwinding her arms to eat her food. She continued to think, wondering if she should not say anything to the recruits to allow the theories to spread. "No." Once again, Erwin had managed to catch her thought process. She managed to poke out her lower lip through all the food she had stuffed in her cheeks, making her resemble a certain tree-climbing mammal.

She groaned in her throat as she had no ability to use her mouth as the fact that to do so she would lose some of the breakfast inside crossed her mind. Erwin understood this as well. "I know you can imagine the pandemonium that would spread of that choice, Hanji. We have an expedition in 2 weeks, we can't handle any distractions." Hanji raised her eyebrows. An expedition so soon? Erwin must be really excited to see Rens abilities out in the field. Erwin ignored the look and went back to eating and listening, carefully studying each conversation to see if it led anywhere. Hanji managed to swallow most her food before talking again. "You do know how Levis going to react to this, right?" Erwin already knew what she was talking about. "Yes, well, he'll be the one telling them so he doesn't get mad at anyone for saying the wring thing." Hanjis jaw dropped. "Erwin! Are you trying to get the recruits murdered? You know how Levi reacts when his authorities questioned and a couple hundred kids asking him questions is the epitome of testing the boundaries, even for a normal officer! These kids aren't going to let this go!" Erwin glanced down at her exasperated face with a majestically raised eyebrow high on his forehead. "Of course I do. I'm not an idiot."

"Coulda fooled me." She mumbled, before stuffing a few forkfuls of food into her mouth to avoid answering the questioning gaze now looking full on her face. She didn't want her science privileges taken away. She continued to eat her food and listen to the conversations around her. She managed to get seconds and wheedle thirds out of the cooks before it happened. The doors burst opened and the words that had been being tossed around from one side of the room to the other stopped into a quiet murmur. Levi had arrived. Hanji studied him in surprise. His hair wasn't slightly damp from a shower and he looked well rested. In face, he was just covering his face with a yawn as the door closed behind him. He looked around with the sleepy gaze of her Moblit when he woke in her bed, slightly confused and utterly adorable. Hanjis jaw dropped for the second time that morning. All conversation in the room stopped as the Captain dragged himself to the plate of food that was still being held out by a frozen recruit toward the shelf. She could also feel Erwin's amazement and pretty much every face in the room looked shocked as well. It wasn't until Levi gave his usual irritated frown when the kitchen aid didn't immediately let go off the plate they were holding that the spell broke and a sharp, simultaneous intake of air was taken in through almost the entire room.  _Oh jeez._ Hanji thought as Levi strode toward them with his mask firmly in place.   _Rens going to be sooo pissed once he hears about this._ "What are you looking at shit for brains?" Levi snapped, eyebrows furrowed. 

"Your clueless, aren't you?" she asked, almost amazed. His glare strengthened. "What the hell are you talking about?" He frowned. She sighed and put the last of her food in her mouth before speaking. Maybe it would somehow disguise her words. "So hows are sweetie pie doing?" She noticed with some intrigue that he tightened up at the words 'sweetie pie' and made a disgusted face at the food showing through her open mouth as she talked. "He's not your sweetie pie, and he's asleep. If anyone wakes him up I'll personally destroy them." Hanji blinked at the intensity in his voice and his words. It had been less than a week. Had he really given up and decided that Ren could have him? Then a gleam entered his eyes.  _Nope, definitely hasn't given himself up._ She thought to herself as she noticed the new, sadistic light in his eyes. She worriedly wondered what he was planning. Her gaze caught on the retreating back of Erens two friends leaving the room. Conversation had slowly picked up throughout the room, masking the tapping sounds of the recruits' feet. She worriedly hoped they didn't plan on seeing their friend. That probably wouldn't end well. She sighed and pushed away her empty plate before giving her usual smile. Might as well use this chance to get some info. That thought alone allowed her smile to become both more genuine and just a tad bit more terrifying. 

 "Are you sure about this Mikasa? I mean, he hasn't gotten a decent bit of rest for at least two days! Who knows when he finally got to sleep yesterday! And you know how Ren is if he's woken up! I do not want a repeat of that experience! Mikasa, what if he doesn't even want to see us right now? What if he's not even awake? What are you even planning on doing?He is most defiantly going to be asleep, isn't he?" And on Armin rambled. As he had mentioned before, he had once before seen Ren when he had been awoken. The night the 'incident' with the sadistic recruit during training happened, Eren had been acting weirder than usual, but him and Mikasa din't really worry too much because it was normal for Eren to act weird after he had an episode. Well, Mikasa didn't worry. Armin instead switched to his scientist mode so he wouldn't freak out. That got a lot of their data from that mode. Anyway, the next day, instead of getting up early as usual to train before the other recruits-in-training and to get the most out of breakfast by being their early, he slept in. Late. Really late. So late, in fact, that Shadis had sent Armin, Mikasa, and Jean to wake him up. 

When they had walked into the barracks, they had discovered a lump on the bed, barely moving, and not showing any signs of getting up anytime soon. Jean had snickered as Armin watched impassively by, watching carefully to jot down notes. Mikasa had taken a step toward the bed when Jean had suddenly tugged off the blanket and yelled; straight into a non-human ear, "Get up Asshole!" They had not, of course, noticed the pointed and animalistic-looking ear until it had twitched under Jeans hand, who had stumbled back at the feel of something soft and velvety under his fingers. Erens -or rather Rens- ear had turned into the texture of a puppies ears, just as pliable and soft too, only difference was that they were still distinctly human and that the color of the light brushing of fur was the tan color of most of his body. Ren lay completely still for a total of 2 seconds before slowly and deliberately sitting up until his now long hair had covered his eyes and showed just his mouth tightened into a thin line with the muscles in his shoulders tensed and hands gripping the edge of the blanket.

Jean had looked justifiably terrified and had stood stock still, not even making contact with the lone gold eye that now peeked through the curtain of hair. The rage and tiredness that had shown in that eye rendered all of them speechless, and only Mikasa dared to move. At the sight of his adopted sister coming into view, he relaxed just the slightest fraction of a bit before once again pinning his gaze on the trembling horse face in front of him.  **Get. Out.** He had growled, just as slow and deliberate as he had sat up just a little bit before. He hadn't needed to be told twice. With the sight of his 2nd biggest nemesis' back fleeing the room, some of the blood-lust in the inhuman creatures face lessened. Armin had carefully set a hand on his friends shoulder, making small strokes while Mikasa spoke. "Training time, okay? we need Eren right now." The male had given a slow blink in her direction before flopping back on the bed with a completely ungraceful lack of care on the way down. 5 minutes later, just as Armin and Mikasa were about to leave the barracks in defeat of Eren getting up, Eren had woken up; disoriented and confused, as always with no memory of ever being different. But Armin had not forgotten and he very clearly remembered the look of blood-rage in his eye that day. Mikasa was unperturbed.

Finally, they reached the door to the basement. The closer they had gotten to the heavy door, the quieter Armins complaints had gotten until he was barely mumbling nonsense when the dark-colored door came into view. Mikasa hardly paused in front of the unassuming door and swung it open, it being surprisingly silent on shiny hinges. Of course the Corporal would not have allowed such a thing as squeaky hinges in the castle. It would have been a disgrace to his pride as a clean-freak. Mikasa stepped confidently down the steps and after a resigned sigh, Armin followed her example. It took a couple minutes to reach the bottom, to Armins surprise, and he made a silent reminder to himself to count the steps on the way up. He followed Mikasa as she led them to a cage with a sheet covering most of the side facing the stairs, allowing some semblance of privacy. Through the shadows of the flickering lantern, Armin was unable to discern any moving object, so he allowed himself to relax slightly for the fact that he wouldn't have to face a cranky Ren even if the other side of the spectrum was a pissed-off Ren. 

Mikasa reached back into her cloak and pulled out a thin, grey key. Armin sighed. Of course she had managed to have a skeleton key of their friends cell made. And of course she had managed to get a unnoticeable pocket hidden in the lining of the green material. Armin heavily suspected Squad Leader Hanji. Mikasa unlocked the door. A soft  _click_ was heard before the door swung open with a light touch from the dark haired girl. They both walked into the curtained room, Armin deliberately, Mikasa consequentially. Mikasa walked closer while Armin stopped at his desk, observing several sheets of paper scattered over the surface and floor, scribbles made in their secret language visible with chart-like graphs on a few sheets. With raised eyebrows, Armin scanned the messy writing with a curious and uncomprehending gaze. It wasn't until about the third page that he understood what he was trying to read. Eren or Ren) had managed to swap a few rules around for their made-up language, making it a little harder to read than it could've been, but still pretty simple. At least for Armin it was. Face red, Armin forced himself to put down the papers and instead switch his attention back to the bed where Mikasa had by now discovered and excavated the boys changing face beneath the bundle of blankets. Human, beast, human, and back again. The dark circles that had appeared in the past couple days had disappeared and even though Mikasa would have had to at least nudge the teen a few times to reach his slumbering face, he was still fast asleep. 

Armin relaxed and gave a soft smile at the boys sleeping face. he walked closer, boots making soft clicks on the stone. When he reached the edge of the bed, opposite Mikasa, he sat down and looked down at his friend, more closely critiquing his looks. By now, it looked like Erens hair was going to stay in that same style that it became when he transformed into a titan and his nose was more upturned, a little wider too, allowing more air to enter,  _Probably to draw scents easier._ Armin silently observed. His lips hadn't changed, a full bottom lip with a slightly too thin top lip with faint creases in the corners where he would normally frown. Armin sighed quietly. The creases had started to develop in the beginning of training as a recruit and time had not diminished the vague lines. Armins eyes wandered to the twitching lids. Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Armin noticed that one eye was just noticeably bigger than the other, probably only visible because he was looking so closely. 

He wondered if it made him more capable of sight in just one eye or if the other eye would change so that they were both either bigger or smaller. Mikasa was slowly stroking the side of the boy's face, facial bones slowly shifting underneath her fingertips, broadening, widening, thinner, smoother, rougher. Although Eren was almost 18, he still didn’t have facial hair, something that Eren had told Armin as a confidante. He was quietly worried about it, but Armin told him not to worry. Armin was younger than Eren by about 2 years, but even he had started to grow a small, blonde (therefore nearly invisible) moustache that he had immediately shaved off in favor of helping Eren feel better. Mikasa, of course, had been and was still unaware of this and had continued to baby her adopted brother.

Armin and Mikasa stayed by the sleeping male for well over an hour, but they still did not move. They had let a classmate know that they would be missing class and to please tell their teacher that they would not be there. Unsurprised, Hannah had shook her head, rolling her eyes and gave them a smile to tell them she would. Armin had thanked her while Mikasa had swiftly turned around and started striding down the hall. About an hour and a half after entering the caged room, Mikasa had decided that she could leave the bed and started straightening up the room, a small, fond smile on her face as she recalled all the messes Eren had left as a child when he was left by himself in his  room. Eren had always been unnecessarily tidy throughout the house after Mikasa had come into the family, but his room had been one place that he would just let go. He allowed himself to make a mess, but everywhere else he insisted on keeping organized, cleaning up after mealtimes and playtimes, sometimes irritating her foster father when he was trying to do something because Eren was always putting away his tools.

 

When Mikasa finally looked at the papers that she was shuffling into a neater pile, her attention caught. She frowned. This system used was different than the one Armin had taught them both and didn’t allow her to understand what had been written. She frowned at the scribbles. She was adept at reading Erens messy scribbling and she had gotten the chance at looking over Rens messy scrawl as well, but this was a disaster. Some of the writing simply dropped off and started somewhere else and sometimes the letter were written vertically instead of horizontally across the paper. Then there was the matter of the odd graphs and lines scribbled both on the sides and in the middle of the papers. She had no idea of what it could mean. She looked over to Armin, confused. She had seen him pick up a couple of the other papers earlier, then hastily drop it, face red. She hadn’t thought about it before, but now she was suspicious. Armin had been with Eren for longer than she had and adjusted accordingly, but this...writing was so indecipherable it might as well be written by an animal. She knew Ren wasn’t even close to human, but he wasn’t just wild either.

Armin looked away as soon as he realized why Mikasa was looking at him. Now Mikasa was annoyed. Why was he hiding something from her? She looked back at the paper and narrowed her eyes. She would discover the answer to this problem! About an hour later of intense concentration, she sat back up with an exhausted sigh. She had finally managed to find out half of the alphabet that he was using. She had been excited to discover that the language was actually very similar to what Armin and her used, but there were little twists she kept coming to that she spent too much time thinking about  when solution was actually very simple. She figured that the last half of the letters would be much shorter than the first half, but her eyes were tired and it was dim in the room with only a lantern and a couple candles for light.

Armin smiled at her softly when he caught her fatigued face. He went back to tracing Ren's face. It had settled into a slim shape with subtle cheekbones and a pointed nose. It had slimmed down too, not as wide, and his eyes had gotten bigger, even out and lengthening. HIs eyebrows hadn’t changed, but now they seemed to fit his face, instead of seeming too big, they fit nicely along his eye ridge and rising the slightest bit than the normal furrowed look that he normally wore, even in sleep. HIs hair had grown to his shoulders and now his feet were sticking out the blanket; as Eren liked to sleep straight as a stick unless someone was in the bed with him, in which case he would immediately curl around them as if to protect them with his own body. Both Mikasa and Armin had crawled into his bed when they were younger to feel that protective feeling.

Armin could now see the proper mix between Ren and Eren, somehow managing to look natural. He had Rens height and litheness, but Erens set jaw and long legs. They would have to wait until he was conscious to see how he reacted, talked, walked and otherwise interacted. Armin looked back over to Mikasa. He smiled. She had fallen asleep over the papers and was starting to drool. He had never told her of her habit and he had sneakily kept it a secret from both of his friends. He stood and walked over. Even though he still had a way to go before he grew to a proper height, he was strong, and easily picked her up from her backed up chair. She mumbled in her sleep but otherwise stayed silent. Setting her down softly, he carefully lifted the blankets and slid her more deeply into the cavern of warmth. Sensing the intrusion, the boy's eyes fluttered slightly, but instead of awakening, he rolled over and wrapped his arms around his adopted sister instead. She snuggled deeper into the comforting hold and Armin smiled.

He yawned. The dim lighting was making him sleepy. He laid down beside the taller male and curled into a loose ball, feeling the warmth from the body underneath the blankets radiate a soothing heat. Unbeknownst to the huddle of warmth in the basement, things weren’t going so well outside of the friend-bubble. Like a very irritated Levi who did _not_ understand why everyone kept looking t him and whispering. He had made sure he wasn’t dirty (he had been clean as always), had checked to make sure he was just as strict as ever (he had beat a couple of trainees during training), and had even asked Hanji if there was something going on that he didn’t know about. She had shrugged, lips twitching, and said they had a expedition coming up before promptly walking away to avoid laughing in the poor Captains face. This, of course, only raised the Corporals suspicions that something was going on because Hanji never missed a chance to either tease him or babble incessantly to him.

 He watched as the last group before lunch left to start on their cool-down exercises. They had assembled into little groups that sat/stood talking about something or the other. He didn’t really pay attention except to study the way they stretched. Too bad, or he would have known what about all the recruits had been bothering him. They were talking about him. And the oddly adorable sight this morning. It was causing a lot of sexual identity problems. “And the way he yawned!” I know! Like a baby kitten!” All he needed was a little blanket.” A round of sighing. This was a group of girls. Then there was the boys. “Did you see that walk?” Yeah, like he could fuck you, kill you, and give you just about the best goddamn time you’ve ever had.” A round of glances at the oblivious Captain. “God, that look and his regular scowl keep getting mixed!” A circle of nodded heads. The poor Captain. Now half the boys didn’t know they wanted to Fuck him or wrestle him, the girls wondered if they could sneak in a pet or two of that now soft-looking hair, and  Ren had the intuition of a yandere girlfriend.

He had been restless for about half an hour now and was getting increasingly annoyed for no reason, even though he was asleep and couldn’t conceive _why_ he would be annoyed. It was finally lunch when they rose a sleepy head to see his sister and best friend curled around him, sleeping, and the candle burned down almost to a nub. He blinked slowly. Something was poking at his consciousness. He frowned. Something wasn’t right. Ren and Eren, now almost fully intertwined, smiled gently down to their small family before once more looking up and furrowing their brow. Making a decision, he looked around and noticed his clean room. Mikasa. He shook her gently, waking her to immediate alertness. “Eren? Ren?” He smiled. **_Both. Permanently._ ** She groaned. “That's it **_._ ** I’m just gonna call you Eren. He smiled, accepting it, then turned to Armin to wake as well. He rose to consciousness slower and sleepier than the other two, but he managed to quickly blink his eyes to alertness. He yawned and both Eren and Mikasa smiled fondly at him. “What time is it?” He asked after shaking his head a bit to dispel the last of the sleepy fog. Mikasa shrugged and Eren smelled the air. **_Lunch_ ** . Mikasa and Armin looked at each other, alarmed. Eren stretched and padded on all fours to the end of the bed where he gracefully set down first one foot than the other. He turned back to them with a raised eyebrow. **_Coming?_ ** Blinking, Armin scooted over to his side of the bed and stood up, stretching his arms. Mikasa did the same and touched her toes, a habit after waking up so many times to do the same thing. Sniffing, Eren and Ren ( who was now almost as much Eren as Eren was Ren) trotted up the stone steps, one hand dragging against the wall and the other giving small swings. Mikasa and Armin followed behind like they used to in their recruit days, the Trio was back together again.

 

Levi looked at the doors again. After his shower, he had headed to the mess hall as usual after quelling the urge to check on the brat downstairs. Now he was eating his food and still feeling the eyes of the recruits, officers, and the crazy scientist set on not telling him anything. He had even asked Erwin and when he had just looked at him like he had no idea what he was talking about, Levi had simply given up, throwing his hands in the air, growling, and storming off. He had looked at the gazes every once in awhile to get them to look away, but it didn’t last very long. But now he wasn’t worrying about them, instead staring at that damn door as he waited for...something. He didn’t know. The feeling of expectancy was irritating him and he was thinking more about kicking the brat awake than eating his food. He saw something move in the corner of his eye. "Stop it shit for glasses. Your gonna break you face." Hanji ignored him and continued to grin widely at his annoyed frame. "I've no idea what you're talking about." she said cheerfully, happily shoving a forkful of food off Levis plate into her mouth. He finally turned to glare at her. 

"What. Is. Going. On." He hissed at her, fully aware that she knew what he was talking about. She gave the closest look she had to an innocent expression. It wasn't very convincing. "As I told you the past 10 times, I've no clue what you are talking about." she shrugged, trying to wipe the usual look of scheming off her face to replace with confusion. It didn't look natural on her face. She also didn't do a very compelling job at it either. Levi snorted then opened his mouth. That's when he arrived. It wasn't dramatic like most would have guessed, but both Hanji and Levi noticed right away, even if no one else did. Hanji knew because of the way Levi stiffened that relaxed, then stiffened again, his face battling with rage, uncertainty, and a certain type of liberated freedom she rarely witnessed. She looked up. Somehow, without drawing anyone's attention, the beast, the blonde, and the raven had arrived and walked to the 104th squad trainee table and sat down. She noticed the exact moment the other cadets noticed the trio. A ripple passed through, First when they saw Mikasa. The boy (she wasn't sure if Ren or Eren was at the helm. They were so...intertwined. A perfect mix.) had somehow managed to hide himself within the group while completely standing out at the same time. The way he stood, looked, acted. He was clearly different. Levi didn't turn around. He sat staring straight ahead, past Hanji and to the wall, face now settled on a bored look that twitched every once or awhile to a more tense look, like he was preparing to beat a difficult human enemy. 

 

Jean, of course, was the first to notice. He had been laughing loudly to a joke Marco had told when he turned and saw a faintly smiling Armin. He had immediately sobered up and allowed his jaw to drop in surprise. "Armin? Mikasa? Where 'ave you been? The teachers just accepted the fact that you were gone. Din't ask questions or nothin'." Armin gave a sheepish smile. "Err. Sorry about that, I guess. I suppose you could call it an emergency." The table turned to the two. They hadn't noticed the shifter yet. Shouts of "Mikasa!" and "Ar!" and "Where've you been?" rang across the table and everyone leaned toward the two to find out more. A few looked confusedly toward the door. They hadn't heard anyone come in. Mikasa sat stone faced as always, but Armin tried his best to answer their questions without answering them. Mostly be saying that they had simply not had enough sleep and had gone to fix a problem and take a nap. They didn't buy it, unfortunately. That's when Eren finally introduced himself.  ** _'Ello._** His voice was still raspy and deep, but now it was more accented, more familiar, like he hadn't turned into a completely different person from the past week. A few dozen people turned to him in shock. 

 _What?!_   _When did he get there? Has he been there the whole time?! When was the whole time?_ A lot of the girls had shivered when they heard his voice. He sounded like a bad-ass hot boy when he spoke. A lot of the boys stiffened. Eren was, once again, causing a sexual identity crisis among another group of people. That voice was a voice that could both beg for it and command you to do whatever he wanted you to do and you would gladly follow him through Hell if he would only  _acknowledge_ you. Teenage boys like these were not used to feeling commanded by one of their peers. It was oddly arousing. Eren could tell this immediately. He did not care. He already had a more important person to deal with than these others. He didn't care if entire batches of boys became sexually confused and therefore depressed/bewildered at the sudden changes their world could produce. They needed to grow up anyway, in what was left of single Rens own opinion. Eren looked at them passively, trying to remember how to smile non-threateningly. He decided on giving a small wave.  ** _I hope we can all become friends._** __Clearly, what was left of just Eren was feeling a bit awkward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've decided that Armin had discovered something akin to the German language in one of his books and taught it to his friends, making a modernized version of it. So basically Eren/Ren is basically reading-writing-saying German when they use the 'secret language'. Armin saw the pattern but didn't tell Mikasa because he believes that between her and everyone else, Erens going to want a little privacy. Especially now.


	13. The Plan, pt.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To say the least, Eren was very persistent. Levi is not sure whether he appreciates this persistence or if he should cave this kids face in. But he cleans well and makes good tea, so he guesses he'll just have to wait and see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit shorter than normal, but I've waited awhile to give you a chapter, so here ya go. I hope its enjoyable!

A few people from other tables had noticed how pretty much an entire table had gone silent and turned to investigate. Nothing looked off at first glance until you carefully studied each of the cadets faces and then came to Eren who then looked nothing close to the other recruits. The hall grew gradually quieter. Armin sighed and laid his head on the table. He wondered if it was going to be like this all the time form now on. Everybody staring or gossiping or pulling him aside in the halls to find out more information to then continue the gossip which by extension prolonged the staring. This was going to be just wonderful, wasn't it? Eren looked at everyone again and tried to give a smile without showing his teeth. To everyone else, it appeared he was giving a polite, non-genuine smile when he would much rather be somewhere else. One of the recruits who had been working in the kitchen decided at that moment to walk out of the kitchen and into the hall over to the table. By this point, the hall had adjusted its noise level to a constant and quiet buzz of noise that could barely be distinguished from the next table. The recruit arrived at the still silent table. Eyebrows furrowed, he studied the table to see what had them so quiet. It wasn't so hard since most of them were looking in one direction. His face split into a grin and, ignoring the changes his body and face had gone through, Mylius walked straight up to the taller recruit and gave him a man-hug. The other recruits stared in shock.

"Eren! How you doing? Had a good sleep? We miss you in the kitchens man! You made some good food!" He asked grinning. Eren gave a sudden grin. His teeth were now clearly in view. His sharp, slightly elongated teeth.  _Oh jeez._ Armin thought depressingly.  _This should be fun._ Armins temporarily raised head thunked back to the table. Mikasa looked at him sympathetically while everyone else ignored him in favor of the unexpected sight in front of them. They weren't sure if they wanted to be jealous or impressed. Eren returned the hug. Mylius stood back and scanned him from top to bottom, noting the changes and raising a curious eyebrow before looking back into the beast recruits golden jade eyes. "You got hotter all of a sudden." Mylius said, the statement clearly a question. A few peoples mouths dropped open in shock. What did he just say?! Armin also looked up in surprise. He didn't know Eren was that comfortable with someone else in their legion. Mikasa was studying the male also, judging him safe for now, but planning on questioning him later. She didn't care if Eren could probably take down several titans by himself now, she would protect him dammit! Eren continued to smile.

 **Mius!** Eren grabbed the other recruits shoulders. 'Mius' shivered when the voice of the taller recruit washed over him. Eren ignored it for the most part, deciding to check it out later.  **How long I've been out? I make food tomorrow?** Eren asked, confirming that he'd help in the kitchens. Even Mikasa was slightly affected by his voice, but she was more happy that Eren wasn't afraid of speaking and proud of how that voice probably affected everyone else while being pissed that should would probably have to start fighting off recruits from every side now. Armin, being him, was analyzing the effect Erens voice would have on his privacy while everyone else was in slight shock, trying to adjust to the low raspy growl that seemed to flow from the creatures throat, almost making music of the syllables. Mylius licked his lips. "U-um, about 4 days, give or take a few hours." Eren raised an eyebrow. He knew he had been out, but that long? A memory triggered in his subconscious, quickly scanning across his mind. Bits and pieces were missing, but he was able to realize that the memory had been from when he had snapped out of whatever trance he had been in the past few days. He remembered the feeling of his body slowly shutting down as he had listened to Armin talk and he clearly never wanted to experience the feeling again. Erens body gave a slight full-body shiver as the memory replayed. 

Mylius, Mikasa, Armin, Christa and Marco all gave him looks of concern. All of them had been unaffected by his voice and a few of the other couples were also unaffected by the voice, only feeling confusion and curiosity. Jean was trying to figure out how the Suicidal Bastard had gotten suddenly more sexy. He was, of course, still attached to Marco, but still upsettingly reacting to the Asshole. They had fucked for a little while, after all. Nothing serious, more to get stress out than anything, but ever since that incident, they hadn't done anything. The entire room had quieted down at this point.

 

Erwin had finally turned around to see what had caused the disturbance and noticed Eren after carefully examining where the most silence was.  **...marrow.** Erwin managed to catch the tail end of the sentence and the mumbled voice had him giving a slight twitch in surprise. Neither Eren, nor Ren had had a voice like that, and this one sounded as though they had somehow converged on each other. He side-eyed his Captain and second in command. Hanji was grinning again, slightly bibber than usual, giving Erwin a side thought, worrying that she would split her face in half, but he brushed off the thought and instead focused on the shorter man a couple seats down from him. He was tensed up and looked ready to kill something which wasn't too far off from his regular annoyed expression, but this time he seemed to be hiding back. Erwin frowned. Something was definetly off. 

 

Hanji felt like she was going to scream in joy. Normally she would've at least jumped around a bit, but she figured that would set off grumpy pants over there and she wanted to watch this play out. Unable to contain her excitement, she started to Bob in her seat, all most hoppingand the wood bench. Levi managed to finally snap out of it a bit when the bench started scooting away from the table, because he turned to her and hit her on the back of the head. She frowned for a split second, pouting, before grinning again, e slight pause allowing her face to rest enough to energetically continuing to attempt to destroy the world through smiling. 

 

Levi wasn't sure he wanted to kill Hanji, walk out, or go to the brat. So saying, he wasn't sure what he would do if he did talk to the kid. That long with no beastly brat to taut and suddenly having him stare at him in the showers then to suddenly arrive in the mess hall with his two friends that hadn't been seen since this morning? Yeah, no idea at all. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending how you look at it, the choice was taken out of his hands.  **Heichou.** Levi tensed up even more. He hadn't heard the long haired teen walk up. Hanji was finally sitting still beside him. The thought was a absent one because he finally started to process that voice. What. In the hell. Happened. TO HIS VOICE! Levis body gave a slight shiver at the noise. What the fuck? He'd trained his body to not give involuntary movements, what was going on!  **Heichou.** The guttural voice repeated. Gritting his teeth, Levi looked up, in his head silently chanting  _hes just a brat hes just a brat. A stupid brat. A stupid br..._ In the end, it didn't help. Brilliant green and gold eyes assaulted his vision. Unbeknownst to most people, green, blue and white were his favorite colors, although he would seem mostly too tough to have such a thing as a favorite color. The bright orbs in front of him reflected most of the colors back at him, a startling array of color.

Amber, metallic gold, all shades of yellow and light orange ranged through his right eye, making it seem to shine, even in the bright light of the mess hall. The left eye was laced with peeks of blue-turned-green, jade and emerald, somehow mixing into a potent mix enough to hold anyone's gaze. His hair was a rumpled brown mass, all different shades from earthy dirt to dark leather. It was just neat enough to not make Levis inner OCDic tendencies-which he would beat anyone for mentioning- not ring, seeming to make it even better. Although, he did want to brush those bangs hanging just past his upturned nose to the side so he could better see that brilliant gaze. And they fit, his eyes not too large for that face that was broader than he had last seen it. The skin had seemed to lighten a couple shades from his regular sun-kissed complexion, but still remained a base of olive skin that segued into a slightly more pink tone that was his lips. For just a moment, Levis jaw fell loose. 

The brat had somehow matured from shitty ass brat to the dawn of manhood within a very short amount of time. for just the tiniest speck of time, Levi contemplated the thought of this not actually being Eren Jaeger, but actually the brat who seemed like he could take down even his superior officer without a thought. But even that wild creature was a brat in his own right. This male had hardly any of that prepubescent immaturity about him, while still maintaining a certain aura that shone impish mischievousness and trouble, a blatant disregard for authority only slightly hidden in the way he looked down at his superior officer. The recruit gave a sudden smile down to the Captain, as though he could read the thoughts scrolling through his still form. The grin was just big enough that small dagger-like canines emerged to dent the full bottom lip, the teeth sharp enough to seem to almost break skin. Even though the break in Levis facade of bored officer had broken hardly even temporarily, it seemed like the sharp-eyed male in front of him had managed to catch the breach and was proud of it. The grin turned decidedly more predatory at the realization. To himself, Eren absently thought to himself and, indirectly, Ren.  ** _Maybe we won't need the plan after all?_**

The two had slowly managed to scan a few pieces of memory from before his sleep came and though the memories were sketchy at best, he had remembered a few of the key points in his Plan that would be detrimental if it came to pass that he would need it. The greeting that reached his ears indicated that that thought would crash and burn in a horrible death. "Brat." Clearly, Mate Levi had not yet seen that he was a suitable mate to himself. If anyone had been looking at the normally crazy-eyed scientist beside the glaring Captain at that moment, they would have noticed that she had dropped her face into her hands and appeared to be struggling between laughter and screams of excitement. Eren didn't recognize this a s a threat, so he left it alone. But the male in front of him was what was truly causing the problem. Although Mate Levis voice was as perfect as ever, the words that had come out of his mouth clearly meant that more extensive measures would need to be taken. Outwardly, the brunettes eyes dimmed slightly. They had hoped to do this the easy way. Levi noticed and gave a barely perceptible shake that could have been a shrug, his face almost smug as the thought that he had out-tricked the brat that had now grown up into a bastard with his mind games. 

While Levi gave himself a mental pat on the back with his victorious thoughts of glory, Eren was regretfully agreeing with Ren.  _ **We have to go through with the Plan.**_ A mental nod of a imaginary head.  _ **Yes.**_ Hanji seemed one of the few people who noticed the expression aside from his friends who new one half of him better than himself and the other half better than most others. The crazy insane scientist that could no doubt hunt down separate titans just to test them, gulped.  _Oh no._ Where her only thoughts as she watched Erens nervous and anticipatory look focus on her short friend. Erwin, being the observant pair of eyebrows that he was, had also noticed the change had touched a soft pat onto his second in commands shoulder. "Should we be worried?" He asked quietly, aware Levi was as unobservant as a piece of furniture when it came to regular people. Well, as regular as Eren could be. If something  wasn't particularly dangerous, Levi didn't really seem to notice anything. 

But even as the Commander asked the question into his Seconds ears as quietly as he could, there was still the annoyance and frustration of someone fully ready to attack at a moments notice. Erwin still apparently held a sore spot towards the brunettes lack of respect toward both him and his superior officers. For once, Hanjis smile was filled with more than manic energy or excited determination. She seemed to almost deflate before his very eyes. "No." She said tiredly, "We'll just have to let him handle the brunt of it." Erwin frowned. Then, just as suddenly as she had deflated, Hanji perked right up. Her eyes had the manic sparkle they got when something especially curious came along. She had that look more often recently. "Doesn't mean we can't write down the data!" She told herself gleefully, loud enough that Erwin gave a tired sigh and that Levi ignored as usual. While Hanji giggled, Erwin absently wondered if his two friends were m ore toddlers than adults. Depressingly, he realized that this was not the first time this thought had crossed his mind. 

 **Hanji.** The three heads of the officers who were part of the main structure that was the scouting legion snapped up from any relaxed position they had been in. Eren was no longer saying the Captains nickname, but this might lead to worse things yet. Was what the rest of the officers at that table were thinking. It had appeared that everyone who was in that small bubble of importance seemed to have forgotten that there were other people who did care what was actually going on, but for now, they were ignored in favor of the 'importance bubble'. Erwin's thoughts were more of the violent kind now, what with the kids (he was using Levis language now!) glaring disrespect of not using an honorific and informal speech, while Hanjis was of the curious and excited kind, of course. Levis was still slightly dazed, though his face didn't show it and his scent held only the faintest traces of it, though the name made a faintly familiar feeling-that he could have sworn he had felt maybe once before when the beast that was before simply a green eyed brat who had become a fascinating human that could turn into a titan yet held such disdain for them-arise in his gut to take possession over his stomach and lay red hot coals over his stomach that was so close to anger and yet mixed with jealousy. He knew jealousy, knew it well from the old days of having hardly anything, but this feeling was new and annoying. 

 **If you're not busy, I'd be willing to do those tests now. I am going on the...expedition, correct?** A momentary pause at the seldom used word, but an otherwise flawless sentence in a raspy growl left the creatures mouth in an entrancing melody. Hanji first seemed to be a bit dazed, but quickly shook it off once the impact of his words hit her. The smile that slid across her face didn't seem to be physically possible and some weren't sure it could even be classified as a smile at that moment. More of a snarl or silent scream. The people around her physically leaned back as if they could sense the out pour of energy that leaked off the now ecstatic leader. Even Erwin and Levi gave up there own concerns to look troubled over the stretch that their friends mouth was going through. Hanjis voice came out slightly rough when she finally spoke. "Lead the way." she croaked, voice low. When she stood, it was with a tremble in her limbs and slightly shaky knees that quickly straightened, though the quivers in her arms continued. Eren didn't seem surprised and turned to start walking. Hanji took a deep breath before finally following the brunette out. 

She seemed to more almost stumble/skip out of the mess hall than walk or run. Erwin and Levi watched her rapid progress across the now silent mess hall. One with concern and slight anger, the other with a unique version of concern and confusion. 

 

 

 

 


	14. The Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren and Ren enlist (read: force) the Squad Leader Hanji into helping them with their Plan. Of course, they have to prove themselves worthy first. Erwin is still unimpressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry. I have no excuse except I've been writing my other story more. Warning to future writers: DO NOT write two stories at the same time, same fandom or not.

Hanji was content allowing Eren-Ren?- to lead the way, but she was still slightly surprised when they stopped in front of a large oak door. Hanji blinked at the dark wood. Having calmed down for the most part during the walk, she was able to properly analyze what was going on. She questioned her companion with a side glance. He looked at the door for a little longer, just staring at the oak unseeingly before abruptly turning to the Squad Leader and raising an eyebrow. Lord knows how much she wanted to test and experiment, but she knew that if she didn’t put her foot down now, she might never get the chance to again. “Eren, er Ren, ah, which are you right now?” The male looked at her annoyedly, but decided privately that it would be better if they settled this now.

 **_I am Eren. Ren has only lent his abilities and knowledge and maturity to me so that we are, for the most part, one person. He still talks to me and we have sudden mind surges separately and I cannot access all of his strength yet, but I am mostly Eren. I will act in what is considered a more ‘normal’ way in about 5 hours._ ** Hanji raised an eyebrow. The voice Eren was using made shivers run down her spine, but in more of a ‘this is a dangerous predator’ way instead of a sexual one. A thought suddenly occurred to her. Eren was a predator, which meant he wouldn’t get anywhere near prey (humans- maybe titans?) with a voice like he had now, so…? “Eren? Will your voice, sort of, hum, turn off when you reach your, er, one person-ness?” Hanji asked, curious. Eren looked at her with his eyebrows raised again, surprised. **_Yes, actually. Although, I will be able to, as you put it, ‘turn it on’ again._ **

Hanji nodded and then turned so she completely faced the recruit, face serious. “Eren.” She started, waiting for him to turn to face her completely before continuing. “You can’t do this.” The raise of a single eyebrow was the only thing that showed his confusion and superiority. She elaborated. “You have to follow orders. You can’t do whatever you want. Both Erwin and the other superiors wouldn't be happy about it and will kill you.” At Erens still continued raised eyebrow, she realized her error. “That also means that everyone inside the walls will be ordered to try and kill you or turn you in at all times. You won't be able to visit Mikasa or Armin or any of your other friends. Also,” she paused meaningfully,” you won't be able to see Levi.” Eren let out a short and abrupt growl at her additional phrase. He seemed to startle himself with the vocalization, although Hanji didn't look all that surprised.

“Now! I’m sure you knew where you were going because of your sense of smell, but what scent exactly were you following?” Hanji asked, clasping her hands in front of her excitedly and scanning the dark wood in front of her as though it had all the answers to the universe. Or, well, the way to permanently exterminate all the titans, anyway. Eren shook himself and decided to deal with it later. He was the one who had asked the other officer to accompany him, he would be the one to deal with it. He gestured to the lock with an absent minded wave of his hand. **_You. There is clear trace scents of your experiments all over your clothes. All it took was following which direction you had last come from. Since you also skipped the last few science classes recently, that had helped as well._ ** Hanji blushed, then grinned as the manic glint in her eye that had been there earlier returned with delapitating vengeance. Eren wilted the slightest bit under that look. 

“Well, so much to study, as I'm sure you know! No time to rest for the curious!” Eren stared at her in dawning alarm as he realized his possible mistake. _For the plan._ He thought grimly as the brunette quickly pulled a key from one of her various cloak pockets and unlocked the door. His eyes searched the room but came up empty as everything was covered by heavy sheets, a few that even looked scorched in the middle. “Welcome to my 2nd favorite testing room!” Hanji exclaimed and started pulling sheets from different tables, all marked with numbers on the end. Erens multi-colored eyes widened as what was on the tables were revealed.

 

After a tiring day of unanswerable questions and being unable to talk to Levi or find Hanji, Erwin had finally sent the recruits off to bed. He was tired and annoyed and starting to wonder if Hanji would be leaving her Torture And Chemistry Rooms( or TACR as Levi had dubbed it.) tonight or even long enough to let either Ren or Eren sleep.

Now, he didn't like the self important brat that shared consciousness with Eren, but he was a superior, dammit! He would be fair and professional even if it killed him! Giving a decisive nod to absolutely nothing, he strode to the TACR room that he had heard from one of the officers was last in use. The usual "Do Not Disturb!" sign was in place, along with a couple extra, squeezed-in exclamation marks that looked like they had been hurriedly added and, judging from the still-dripping black paint, recently, too. Erwin had walked into enough of Hanjis experiments that he now knew the Exclamation System by heart. One ! symbol equaled a simple, thoughtful experiment that happened to be a passing fancy that was not fatally dangerous to anyone in the general vicinity. Two meant that there was a sign there for a reason and to not barge in unexpectedly as she needed focus. Three was heading into more dangerous territory.

It meant that you must absolutely knock or give some forewarning to your coming in as she either might be doing something illegal or potentially dangerous.  Erwin had broken that rule once, and only once. His food, room and office and both smelt-and in the foods case, tasted-off for a good 2 months after the incident, after which one of Hanjis experiments had blown up and destroyed all her data numbers, or so she claimed. He still didn't know what she had even been doing other than the short recollection of a startled and high pitched _eep!_   before all hell broke loose and a small portion of the room had made a popping noise that then led to his passing out. The entire hall had smelt like burnt hair for 2 weeks and Levi had refused to step within 10 feet of the entire floor. 

The last and most recent amount of marks had been 4, of which Erwin assumed meant that she was working on something new and was to be left alone. The new addition of Moblit had helped lessen Hanjis need for supreme privacy and allowed the other officers to let Hanji know what was going on without entering the actual room. For some reason, Hanji had decided that the semi-new recruit would become her new assistant and had allowed him in through every TACR room she had and the highest level of clearance. The younger man never seemed very bothered by whatever the squad leader did in those rooms, but he was easily embarrassed on any other topic than science or Hanji. The other superiors as a whole had elected to ignore it and carry on as usual and that suited everyone just fine. 

As for Hanjis new amount of !'s, Erwin was pretty sure it only catered to something that she was wholly and completely obsessed with with unlimited access to. It was a rare and valuable opportunity. Now Erwin had started feeling sorry for the kid. The only consolation he could think of was that the teen had offered willingly and consciously. He would have had to do it anyway, but at least this way he would know at least a little about what he should expect. Erwin stared at the door, wondering if he should knock. It was late already and he could see light peeking out from beneath the door as it was one of the few rooms that lifted enough off the ground that you could see a small bar of light at the bottom. The door was thick, so he couldn't hear anything much except a small hum of noise on the other side of the oak slab. Raising a fist, he hesitated only one second more before punctually tapping on the door with his knuckles a couple times. 

When nothing happened, not even a pause in the hum of noise, Erwin figured that he didn't need to know anything tonight (read :didn't want to have to deal with anything Hanji might be cooking up tonight) and headed to his office. He figured that if something truly important came up, Moblit or some other recruit would find him. 

 

Levi had resolutely decided that anything and everything that had happened at dinnertime had been an exaggerated daydream in which his heartbeat had sped up for inexplicable reasons and his mind had decided that his insomnia would take control of even his vision and made the fuckin dumbass shitty brat Jaeger a hot mess. Pointedly ignoring any flaw in that bit of logic, Levi continued drying off his body and went into the bedroom still drying his hair. He looked inside his dresser, staring at that one pair of pajamas that he assumed Eren had ended up giving him while he had been in his trance. Picking them up, he closed the drawer and walked back to his bed, spreading his towel on a rack by his desk and still stark naked. Firming up his jaw, he put aside the comfortable sleeping clothes and went back to his dresser to grab his usual stiff cotton bottoms that were best for a quick escape if it was required. Putting his hand on the drawer, he got ready to pull it out before glancing behind himself to once again stare at the two pieces of shining cloth that he had set aside. 

"Well, its not like I can't wear them." He muttered to himself while letting go of the chest of drawers and crossing the room to pick up the bottoms. They unfolded smoothly as soon as he held them up, softly glowing in the candlelight, the cloth a material similar to silk in its quality. He breathed sharply through his nose, staring at the pants for a moment longer before bending slightly to fit them around his legs. They were slightly too long, extending until the back of the leg dragged a little on the ground when he kept his feet on the ground and the waistline hanging loosely around his hips, allowing his hips to become slightly more obvious than they would usually be. Levi picked up the shirt. He didn't usually wear shirts when he went to bed- too constricting-but looking at the white shirt in front of him, he sighed and told himself that it didn't mean anything, he was only trying something new. He started to tug the shirt over his head. And paused.

The scent of the military brand soap the recruits used and pine trees mixed with something like clean, washed animal fur filled his nose. The kind of animal smell you get after they're bathed and warm and waiting quietly for you to pet them. With the shirt still wrapped around his head, a picture of Ren's and Eren's eyes, each eye glowing, popped up in his mind. Cursing, he struggled with his shirt, now tangling around his arms and head.

"Fuck! Shit! Dammit! Horse shitting fuck, aah!" Levis flailing had ended up with him running into his chair that had been placed at his desk near the middle of the room. It was a very hard chair. 

"Shittyassfuckinghorse-shitfuckingdiemotherfuckinghell! That shit hurt! Erragh!" And other various profanity escaped from the Captains mouth as he finally managed to get the shirt off his head. And twisted around his middle. Somehow, he had gotten the shirt twisted around in a semi-inside-out twist that pinned his arms to his sides and was starting to dig into his stomach. Levi looked down at the shirt in disbelief.  _How...?_ He thought to himself, staring at the shirt distrustfully. Struggling a little more, he realized that all that was happening was the shirt was tightening. Frowning, he walked over to his desk, carefully pulled out one of the top drawers with his fingertips and grasped a knife handle with his hand. He hesitated a bit before gritting his teeth and yanking his hand up as much as possible with the shirt wrapped around half his hand. A small tear nicked the shirt before not allowing his hand to rise anymore.  _Fuck this shit._ He thought to himself before twirling the knife in his hand, causing it to point upward. He glared at the twinkling knife point. 

 _You want to do this the hard way, we'll do it the hard way._ Ignoring the fact that he was talking to a knife inside his mind, Levi started sawing through the taunt material. when he felt the edge of the knife, only one layer of cloth between his skin and the blade, he paused for a moment, hoping to rip the rest of the material himself. Straining his arms again, he only succeeded in tearing the cloth a little bit before it caught on other filaments of fabric and stopped any more tearing. Letting out a sharp sigh through his nose, Levi carefully maneuvered the knife so the flat of the blade slid under the cloth and against his skin. Shivering at the coldness of the metal, he carefully turned the blade so the sharp edge started cutting into Levis skin. Clenching his jaw, Levi jerked the knife in a downward motion, his wrist giving a twinge as it moved in such an unnatural position. The shirt came loose, but a thin line of skin was also cut. The blade was still very sharp, even after cutting through layers of cloth. Red appeared from the cut, but no blood yet fell, the cut being too small to be of much damage. Just enough to be annoying. Deciding to ignore it, Levi looked at the cut shirt now on the stone floor. Grimacing, he picked it up. He studied it. It really had been very well made. 

Moving a few papers out of the way, Levi placed the once-was-a-shirt on  his desk and cut it in half again. No use in wasting fabric. Finding a small sewing kit in the same drawer as the knife, he sat in his chair and repaired the the shirt a bit. A candle and a half later, Levi was left with two cravats and a neat pile of makeshift bandages. Placing the strips, kit, and knife back in the drawer, he closed it and grabbed his new neckties. Walking over to the chest of drawers, he opened the drawer designated for his underwear, cravats and socks. Placing one inside, he gripped the other in a loose fist and brought it over to his clothes that he would be wearing for the next day. Not letting himself think about why he was deciding to wear what was most likely Erens ex-shirt in front of everybody( they wouldn't even know.), he laid down on his bed. The moon was almost ready to go down. He never really got that much sleep anyway. Right before he fell asleep he caught a glimpse of his newly made ascot. He turned away again. No one would even know it was Erens shirt anyway. He reassured himself again.

That is, except Eren himself.

 

Eren panted against the cloth. He had expected Hanji to maybe be a little enthusiastic, but he didn't think he had truly understood what experiencing her enthusiasm was like. Sure, he had understood that she was a little eccentric, but this...this was something he would almost describe as insane. 

"Oh sweetie! Your doing so well! Now, could you tell me if this hurts from a scale of one to ten, ten being burned by acid?" Oh yeah, that had come first. To see what limits he had, both as Eren and Ren. Surprisingly, Erens pain threshold was higher than Rens, but Rens pain tolerance was much more elevated than his. Eren groaned at the memory. He wasn't even sure what time it was anymore. Rens internal clock was just as ineffective. All he knew was that it was almost morning. During one of his gasping breaths, before Hanji applied the knife to his skin, Ren smelt something tangy float from beneath the door. He went crazy. Hanji took a step back as the boy before her suddenly started tearing at the bonds on his wrist.The 5 hour period of switching had been faulty. Apparently, The two in one had not considered the fact that being 'interrogated' would increase the time schedule to -right-the-fuck-this-second when Hanji had started using the knife.

"Woah! Whats wrong?!" she shouted over his growls, grunts and coughs. Ren turned his golden eyes on her and bared his teeth.  **Blood. I smell blood.** Hanji blinked. He had just been bleeding all over the place. She thought it over more carefully and a small grin lifted her features before she quickly hid it and started to try to calm the boy-animal down. 

"Shh. Levis fine, probably just cut himself with a piece of paper. Hes like that sometimes." She soothed. She pet his head from lack of any other ideas of what to do. Even as he growled, Ren didn't pay much attention to her as she tried to calm him. Taking this as a chance to document anything she could about the boys hair, she grabbed a couple strands and cut them off with a small dagger that she kept at her side. Putting them in a vial, she took out a pen and wrote 'R hair' on the label before setting it aside. She sighed and continued to pert his hair. She carefully rubbed the top of his head, surprised to find that it was actually quite silky, much like a long-haired cats would be. She stroke down the top of his head and down his nape. The growling abruptly cut off into throaty growls that the scientist could almost classify as a purr. Startled by the sudden change, Hanji paused her petting. Ren shook his head as if in a daze and looked at her in confusion. Looked like he had been properly distracted. And so was she. She had gotten enough info on his tolerance for now. She grinned. Ren looked at her wide-eyed at the slow spread of lips.

"Lets move onto body sensitivity, yeah?" the woman asked, flipping to a clean sheet in the notebook she was using and writing a title at the top. Eren blinked into existence in one eye.  ** _You're going to owe us for this_**. They told her. She blinked then smiled. Shrugging, she answered. 

"Alrighty then, I never get to test like this anyways." she put down her blood tipped dagger and dragged her hand down his name. The boys body arched off the table. Hanji blinked. "Interesting." she murmured, before writing in her journal. 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, this took an embarrassingly long time. I can only hope I'll write better in the future. I didn't realize how long ago I posted my last chapter. Rest assured, I never gave up on it and I will let you guys know if I ever think about it, but time just kinda escapes you sometimes, doesn't it? Anyway, super hyped for Season three of AoT coming out! They have the Japanese version coming out at the end of May I believe and I really need to catch up on the Manga, so heres a present from me to you! (ps: When I finish this story pt.1, I'm gonna edit the entire thing so it makes more sense, but until then, bare with me please, I don't exactly have a beta. :P)


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